Mexico-England, U.S.-Belgium World Cup audiences rival NFL conference championship games

UPDATE: The USA-Belgium match is officially the most-watched soccer telecast in U.S. history with 33,086,000 viewers on Fox, with a peak audience of just over 41 million.

📺⚽️🇺🇸HISTORY MADE ON FOX🇺🇸⚽️📺

The @USMNT‘s @FIFAWorldCup Round of 16 match vs. Belgium officially stands atop the record books as the most-watched soccer telecast in U.S. history with 33,086,000 viewers. pic.twitter.com/kzfV0TjUBi

— FOX Sports PR (@FOXSportsPR) July 9, 2026

ORIGINAL: Viewership for Mexico-England and United States-Belgium from the 2026 FIFA World Cup are on par with NFL conference championship games, highlighting just how strong viewership has been for the tournament.

On Sunday night, the Mexico-England match averaged 44.84 million viewers across Fox, Peacock, and Telemundo. Preliminary viewership for United States-Belgium, expected to rise when final viewership is out later today, averaged 42 million viewers across those same three platforms.

Fox also released local viewership for Mexico-England. Kansas City led the way with a 13.83 rating and a 40 share. The rating is the percentage of total households in a market watching a game, while the share is the percentage of households watching TV who were tuned into the game. San Francisco also had a strong 13.38 rating and 40 share.

WONDER WHOA! 🦁🦁🦁

Mexico vs. England delivered a Sunday night soccer spectacular on FOX – roaring into the record books as the NEW most-watched non-USMNT FIFA Men’s World Cup telecast in English-language U.S. history with 21,742,000 viewers. 🏆⚽️📺 pic.twitter.com/UKQUrmyuEa

— FOX Sports PR (@FOXSportsPR) July 8, 2026

For comparison, the 2026 AFC conference championship game between the New England Patriots and Denver Broncos averaged 48.6 million viewers, while Seattle Seahawks-Los Angeles Rams in the NFC Championship game averaged 46.1 million.

The final of the 2022 World Cup between Argentine and France averaged 25.31 million viewers which, at the time, was the third most-watched soccer game ever in the U.S. behind only the 2015 Women’s World Cup Final featuring the USWNT (26.7 million) and the 2014 Germany-Argentina men’s final (26.7 million).

The loss of the United States and Mexico might bring an end to the gaudy numbers that can compete with NFL conference championship games. Though, it’s impossible to rule those figures out entirely as the FIFA World Cup final has proved to be a strong draw in recent years.

Viewership for games not involving the United States and Mexico is still strong, though more on par with marquee regular-season NFL games. Prior to Mexico-England, Brazil-Norway averaged 28.37 million viewers across Fox, Telemundo, and Peacock. That is on par with the 2025 NFL Kickoff game between the Dallas Cowboys and Philadelphia Eagles with 28.3 million viewers, the ninth most-watched NFL regular season game in 2025.