Spain’s victory over Argentina at Sunday’s FIFA World Cup 2026 final broke the record books in the United States — averaging 38,937,000 viewers watch on Fox, making it the most-watched soccer telecast in U.S. TV history and most-watched FIFA World Cup final ever in the U.S., according to Nielsen.
Meanwhile, on the Spanish language side, Telemundo and Peacock brought in 23.9 million viewers to the World Cup Final, also making it the most-watched soccer match ever in Spanish-language TV history.
Combined, that makes for a record-breaking 62.8 million viewers watching the match on Sunday, July 19.
On Fox, the numbers spiked at 5:45 p.m., when 51,685,000 viewers were watching as Spain secured the only goal of the game — cementing its 1-0 victory in extra time over Argentina.
The final was up 132% vs. FIFA World Cup 2022 final in Qatar (France vs. Argentina, Sunday morning Dec. 18, 2022, averaging 16,784,000 viewers) and up 240% vs. the FIFA World Cup 2018 final in Russia, (France vs. Croatia, Sunday morning July 15, 2018, with 11,441,000 viewers)
The thriller of a World Cup final was completely dominated by Spain, which controlled the ball from virtually the start of the match. But despite multiple shots by Spain, Argentina deftly defended its goal — forcing the match to go into extra time. Finally, in minute 106, substitute Ferran Torres scored a goal for Spain, securing them the World Cup victory and denying Argentina a back-to-back win.
The 38,937,000 viewers audience for the Spain win beat what had previously been the most-watched soccer telecast ever on U.S. English language TV, set by the U.S. Men’s National Team’s loss to Belgium in the round of 16, which garnered 33,089,000 viewers.
Besides the Spain win, the World Cup finals included its first-ever halftime show on the field, staged by FIFA and Global Citizen, with Coldplay’s Chris Martin curating the show (in his role as international curator of the Global Citizen Festival) and Done+Dusted producing. Among those who performed: Madonna, Justin Bieber, BTS, Shakira, Burna Boy, PS22 Chorus with Coldplay, the New York Philharmonic and the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela conducted by Gustavo Dudamel, and the Muppets.
The World Cup Final was a smash all over the world: As Variety previously reported, inside the winning country of Spain, the final averaged 15.7 million viewers and an extraordinary 87.1% audience share across RTVE’s La 1, regional broadcaster 3Cat, La 2 and DAZN, reaching a cumulative 20.1 million people.
Last week, the two World Cup semifinal matches also broke records, including last Wednesday’s nailbiter between Argentina and England that averaged 15.063 million viewers on Fox, making it the most-watched FIFA Men’s World Cup semifinals match in English-language history.
All told, the 2026 FIFA World Cup averaged 7.74 million viewers on Fox, FS1 and Tubi across 104 matches, up 116% vs. 2022 (3.59 million) and up 179% from 2018 (2.77 million). That made it the most-watched in U.S. TV history. Meanwhile, Telemundo and Peacock secured the most-watched World Cup in Spanish-language U.S. TV history, with 6.3 million viewers — up 143% from 2022 (2.6 million).
On Saturday, the third place game between France and England brought in 13,130,000 viewers on Fox, making it the most-watched FIFA Men’s World Cup third-place telecast in U.S. history (beating 2010’s Uruguay vs. Germany match, which had 4,755,000 viewers). Telemundo/Peacock’s coverage of the France vs. England third place match averaged 7.7 million viewers, making it the most-watched Third Place game in Spanish-language media history (up 225% vs. 2022’s Croatia vs. Morocco, which had 2.4 million viewers).
The 39-day World Cup delivered an audience and sponsorship windfall for Fox and Telemundo/Peacock. With the strong performance on Fox, rivals are now looking at potentially making a bid for the next World Cup (which Fox paid $485 million for in 2026). Among some reportedly interested suitors: Netflix, ESPN, YouTube and Apple.