Fox’s broadcast of the World Cup match between the United States Men’s National Soccer Team and Belgium on Monday, July 6, achieved record-breaking ratings, drawing an average of 33,086,000 viewers. This makes it the most-watched soccer event on U.S. television.
The Belgium-USMNT match attracted viewership comparable to NFL games. It became the highest-rated telecast on any network since Super Bowl LX, which had 125.6 million viewers on February 8.
Excluding football, the Belgium-USMNT match was the most-watched non-NFL broadcast on any network since Game 7 of the World Series on November 2, 2016, which had 40.05 million viewers.
The U.S. Men’s National Soccer Team was knocked out of the World Cup after a decisive 4-1 defeat by Belgium in the Round of 16 at Seattle Stadium. Viewership peaked between 9:15 and 9:30 p.m. ET, reaching an average of 41.03 million viewers.
Fox reported that Kansas City (19.80 rating/51 share), Boston (14.89 rating/38 share), Seattle (14.75 rating/50 share), St. Louis (14.48 rating/36 share), and Philadelphia (14.22 rating/38 share) were top local markets for the Belgium-USMNT game.
Throughout the Round of 16, Fox Sports averaged 14.465 million viewers, marking it as the most-watched FIFA Men’s World Cup Round of 16 in U.S. English-language history. This represents a 216% increase from the 2022 Round of 16 average on Fox and FS1 (4.581 million).
The 2026 World Cup continues to deliver strong ratings for Fox Sports and Telemundo/Peacock. Due to the World Cup, Telemundo has been the top Spanish-language network for 25 consecutive days, from June 11 to July 5. On July 5, Telemundo achieved the highest total day average audience in Spanish TV history, with 3.6 million viewers, led by the Mexico vs. England and Brazil vs. Norway Round of 16 matches.
The 39-day tournament began on June 11 and is scheduled to conclude on July 19.
