Even with the United States and Mexico out of the World Cup, Fox and Telemundo continued to post record audiences for the quarterfinals of the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
The four quarterfinals averaged over 25 million viewers across Fox, Telemundo and Peacock according to Nielsen and Adobe Analytics. Games on Fox averaged 15.0 million viewers, up 142% from the 2022 average on Fox, 6.2 million. On Telemundo and Peacock, the quarterfinals averaged 10.4 million viewers. That is up 154% from the 2022 average on the same networks, 4.1 million. All four matches were the most watched Quarterfinal matches in Spanish-language media history, according to Telemundo.
For an American sports comparison, NFL regular season games in 2025 averaged 18.7 million viewers, while the five game 2026 NBA Finals averaged 20.58 million.
Before this tournament, the Germany-Argentina 2014 men’s final was the most watched men’s World Cup match in U.S. history with 26.7 million viewers. It remains the most watched Men’s final ever, but two 2026 quarterfinals easily surpassed that figure.
Norway-England led the way on Saturday with 34.80 million viewers across Fox, Telemundo. That is the most watched match so-far not featuring the United States or Mexico, and the fourth most watched match in the tournament so far.
Argentina-Switzerland, which followed Norway-England on Saturday, also posted strong viewership. That match averaged 29.95 million viewers across English and Spanish. The second most watched match not featuring the US or Mexico, and the fifth most watched match in the tournament so far.
More impressively, both Norway-England and Argentina-Switzerland surpassed all of the matches involving the United States and Mexico in the group stage.
France-Morrocco and Spain-Belgium earlier in the week posted good, though slightly more pedestrian viewership. France-Morrocco on Thursday averaged 18.25 million viewers across all networks, while Spain-Belgium averaged 17.17 million viewers. While good viewership, it was surpassed by several games in the round of 16, including Brazil-Norway (28.37 million) and Portugal-Spain (18.75 million).
Fox is also reporting preliminary viewership from the France-Spain semifinal. The network said the game averaged 11.46 million viewers, which is expected to rise when final viewership numbers come out. The preliminary number is already higher, however, than final English quarterfinal viewership for France-Morrocco (10.25 million) and Spain-Belgium (9.87 million). Preliminary Spanish-language viewership is unavailable as of now.
Looking ahead to the final, Fox only got half of their dream matchup. Unsurprisingly, Argentina has consistently proven to be one of the top draws of the tournament. Spain, on the other hand, does not seem to have the same drawing power. Still, with Argentina still in, it would be extremely shocking if the 2026 final did not become the most watched in U.S. history, with the Argentina quarterfinal already surpassing that mark.
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