The FIFA World Cup 2026 continues to break records on English-language U.S. TV. Tuesday’s match between Spain and France averaged 11.462 million viewers this Tuesday on Fox, making it the most-watched FIFA Men’s World Cup semifinals telecast in U.S. English-language TV history.
That record-breaking audience watched watched Spain knock out France and move on to the finals, which takes place this Sunday. The Spain-France match record might not last long: Wednesday’s semifinals face-off between England and Argentina, currently underway in Atlanta, may wind up beating Tuesday’s 11.462 million viewers benchmark.
The Spain-France match, which took place in Dallas, Texas, saw Spain beat the favored France team 2-0, including a score by Mikel Oyarzabal from the penalty spot and another goal by Pedro Porro. This will be Spain’s first time in the World Cup finals since 2010. The audience peaked at 4:45 p.m. ET, when and average of 15.560 million viewers tuned in.
The previous most-watched FIFA Men’s World Cup semifinals telecast in English-language U.S. history was France-Morocco on 2022, when 6.595 million viewers watched on Fox. The match viewership was also up 76% vs. the FIFA World Cup 2022 semifinals telecast average on Fox (6.531 million viewers).
This has been a record-breaking World Cup in the U.S. for both Fox and Telemundo. Fox’s coverage of last week’s match between the United States’ Men’s National Soccer Team and Belgium on Monday, July 6 averaged 33,086,000 viewers — making it the most-watched soccer telecast in U.S. history.
And for Telemundo, the July 5 match between Mexico and England ranked as the most-watched telecast of all time for Spanish-language TV in the U.S., according to NBCUniversal research.
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