U.S.-Belgium World Cup Match Sets U.S. Soccer TV Record
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- Fox said the U.S.-Belgium round of 16 match averaged 30 million viewers — the most-watched soccer telecast in U.S. history — with the audience peaking at 36.8 million between 9:15 and 9:30 p.m. ET on Monday in Seattle.
- Belgium won 4-1, eliminating the U.S. and advancing to the quarterfinals; the U.S. was the last of the tournament's three co-hosts still standing.
- The previous U.S. soccer ratings record was set just one week earlier, when the U.S.-Bosnia-Herzegovina group stage game drew 26.4 million viewers on Fox.
- The most-watched combined U.S. audience during the World Cup before Monday's match was the Mexico-Ecuador game at 29.3 million viewers.
- For scale, the 2025 Super Bowl averaged 127.7 million viewers across Fox, Fox Deportes, Telemundo and Tubi (peaking at 137.7 million in the second quarter), while last month's NBA Finals between the Knicks and Spurs averaged 20.6 million on ABC and ESPN — the highest NBA Finals audience since 1998.
Why it matters: Even in a 4-1 elimination loss, the U.S. squad delivered Fox its largest soccer audience ever — 30 million average viewers — shattering the 26.4 million mark set the prior week against Bosnia-Herzegovina. The result underscores how the 2026 co-hosting bump is translating directly into Fox's ratings, though soccer's ceiling (36.8M peak) still trails the 127.7M the Super Bowl draws across the same network family.
