Malik Tillman and the U.S. were knocked out of the World Cup by Belgium Monday night. Alex Grimm / Getty Images
The U.S. men’s national team might be finished at the 2026 World Cup, but not before setting one final new TV record.
Monday night’s 4-1 loss to Belgium drew an average of 30 million viewers on Fox, making it the most-watched soccer telecast in U.S. history. Telemundo reported 12 million viewers on its network, making it the most-watched USMNT game in U.S. Spanish-language TV history. The combined 40 million viewers — still not yet finalized by Nielsen to account for the full range of audience inputs — will likely eclipse any single-game U.S. sports broadcast this decade, other than the juggernaut that is the NFL.
The game’s audience Monday on Fox peaked with 36.895 million viewers in the window from 9:15-9:30 p.m. ET, presumably declining once the game’s outcome felt inevitable.
The game’s appeal to the U.S. TV audience continued a trend that extended throughout the tournament. Hours before kickoff Monday, Fox released its final numbers for last week’s round-of-32 win over Bosnia, which — for a few hours at least — held the record for most-watched English-language soccer broadcast in U.S. history.
Games featuring the USMNT throughout the group stage delivered strong ratings, well beyond 20 million viewers per game combined on Fox and Telemundo.
Quarterfinal games without the U.S. may not reach the 30 million mark, but with brand names like France and Argentina — to say nothing of star power like Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland — TV audiences in the U.S. will continue to be strong.
Analysis
This was a cultural event for soccer in the United States. It was disappointing to watch, but the number shows the popularity of the sport, the team and the World Cup.
The Nielsen number will likely grow higher and combined with Telemundo will ultimately be near or surpass 40 million viewers.
The result of the game will be remembered with disdain, but the impact of the tournament will leave an indelible mark and the amount of fans watching, along with the ratings still to come, is easy proof of it. — Andrew Marchand
Jul 8, 2026
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