U.S. World Cup Opener Earns a Record 27.5 Million Viewers

The United States is not a “soccer country,” unlike many European and South American countries competing in the World Cup. But it is starting to put on a convincing act.

According to Austin Karp of Sports Business Journal, Team USA’s 2026 World Cup debut last week against Paraguay drew a whopping 27.5 million viewers. The official audience for Friday night’s match between the United States and Paraguay was initially announced at 24.886 million.

“That passes the previous combined record of around 26.7 million for both the 2022 and 2014 World Cup finals,” Karp reports.

“That combined U.S.-Paraguay figure is the same audience that Netflix drew for its top Christmas Day NFL game last year (Lions-Vikings). It’s slightly better than what Fox/Fox Deportes drew for Game 7 of the Dodgers-Blue Jays World Series last season.”

Not too shabby.

The overall numbers are positive as well.

“Through the first weekend, World Cup games on Fox, FS1 and Tubi have averaged 6.7 million viewers, up 152% from group stage average four years ago,” Karp reports. “Telemundo is faring a little better thus far, averaging 7.5 million viewers through the first 12 games, which represents 53% of the World Cup audience in the U.S.”

The great news for Team USA and FIFA is that the viewership record was broken in only the first game of group play against a relatively small country. Friday’s second game of group play against Australia should draw an even bigger number, and if the U.S. makes it out of group play, a definite possibility, we’re looking at orbital viewership numbers.