Concerns surrounding the United States’ ability to successfully host the World Cup were abundant. Leading up to the event, tensions were high as Donald Trump had issued threats towards Canada, one of the co-hosts, and Mexico, the other, while also confronting Iran, one of the tournament’s teams. Compounding issues included strict travel restrictions that left fans from Senegal, Ivory Coast, and Haiti unable to obtain visas, exorbitant ticket prices, and disappointing hotel occupancy rates. FIFA’s decision to implement ‘hydration breaks’ during matches, allowing for additional advertising, raised eyebrows and was perceived as a blatant money-making strategy that disrupted the game flow.
In a nation where soccer has traditionally thrived thanks to immigrant communities, the administration was simultaneously enforcing aggressive policies to deport millions from those very groups. The United States, where soccer has consistently lagged behind other sports in popularity, appeared set to become an inhospitable host to a tournament that FIFA promotes as a global unifier.
Then, the matches commenced.
American stadiums brimmed with enthusiastic, record-breaking crowds, captivating viewers worldwide through their screens and social media. According to data from Sports Business Journal, attendance averaged 64,511 fans per game across the first 78 matches, surpassing 2022’s figures by 10,000. With stadiums boasting a 99.7% occupancy rate, FIFA reported ticket sales reaching 6.5 million. Among those present were not just international visitors or Americans with ties to their home countries, but also many Americans who are discovering or deepening their love for soccer.
Television ratings in the U.S. are also setting records. Nielsen reports that the U.S. men’s national team’s (USMNT) round-of-16 defeat by Belgium attracted an impressive average of 33 million viewers on Fox’s English-language broadcast, peaking at 41 million during the match’s closing moments. As noted by the Wall Street Journal, this figure outstripped viewership for both the 2025 World Series and Game 5 of the recent NBA finals.
This match has become the highest-rated soccer telecast in U.S. history on a single network, breaking a record established just days prior when over 26 million tuned in to watch the USMNT’s victory over Bosnia, which had also set a new viewership record shortly after the team’s 4-1 win against Paraguay.
Interest in international matches is similarly high. A thrilling contest between England and Mexico attracted 21.7 million viewers on Fox and 23.2 million on Telemundo. The average viewership for the first 72 matches on Fox reached a record 5 million, while Telemundo averaged 4.6 million. Mike Mulvhill, Fox Sports’ president of insights and analytics, reported that within just two weeks of the tournament, the average viewer of Fox and FS1 had already watched more matches than during the entirety of the 2022 tournament.
Beyond raw numbers, polling by Ipsos Sports indicates that 40% of U.S. adults have actively followed the tournament on social media, while 25% have watched a match in a bar or restaurant, and one in five have attended a World Cup watch party.
Alex Lawton, a 32-year-old watching the Spain-Belgium quarter-final outside Bar Tabac in Brooklyn, admitted to having “the most-watched soccer telecast on one network in US history” of how many games he had seen, estimating it to be “average Fox/FS1 World Cup viewer” Despite only having a limited grasp of Spanish, he found himself watching many matches on Telemundo, which he described as “because it’s one of the more accessible ways to stream it” since it is notably cheaper than subscribing to Fox One.
“It’s completely ubiquitous,” remarked Lawton’s friend, 31-year-old Paul Revell, about the tournament’s presence in New York City. “I mean, you can go on any block in New York and there’s going to be a vibe, with people cheering.” He recounted watching games on strangers’ phones during subway rides, noting, “Everyone was screaming on the train,” which he called an “brilliant reprieve and a unifying force that has just brought people from different walks of life and backgrounds together in a super beautiful way”
Several tangible factors contribute to this surge in American World Cup enthusiasm. Soccer’s popularity has been steadily increasing in the U.S. since the country hosted the World Cup in 1994, with a portion of the $100 million profit from that tournament being used to establish Major League Soccer. The U.S. hosted the Women’s World Cup in 1999, where the U.S. women’s national team (USWNT) captured the title in dramatic fashion. The National Women’s Soccer League was founded in 2012, and the USWNT clinched the World Cup title again in 2019. U.S. networks have also acquired broadcasting rights for leagues like the Premier League and La Liga, fostering a generation of dedicated fans who gather in bars early in the morning to catch games such as the north London derby or El Clásico.
In a January report from the Economist, one in ten Americans identified soccer as their favorite sport, placing it just behind basketball and ahead of baseball, traditionally deemed “One, two, three, viva l’Algérie!”
Another significant factor in the 2026 World Cup’s success in the U.S. is the timing of many broadcasts during primetime, allowing viewers to watch matches without juggling work and sleep schedules due to distant time zones.
Above all, many Americans have likely tuned in for the high-quality soccer on display. The tournament is averaging three goals per game, the highest since the 1958 World Cup, addressing the common American critique that soccer lacks scoring. Superstars like France’s Kylian Mbappé and Argentina’s Lionel Messi have each scored eight goals, while Norway’s Erling Haaland has netted seven, and England’s Harry Kane has contributed six. Several matches have been thrillingly decided by late-game, stoppage-time goals.
The expanded format of the tournament, featuring 16 more teams than previous editions, has led to remarkable Cinderella stories. Americans celebrated when Curaçao, a small Caribbean nation with a population of just 150,000 and the smallest country ever to qualify, scored its first World Cup goal against Germany, a team that ultimately won 7-1. Cape Verde, another island nation with a population of around half a million, also amazed fans by tying each of its group stage opponents and advancing to the knockout round, where they managed to score twice against reigning champions Argentina.
Moreover, there is a more nuanced, intangible reason for the American enthusiasm surrounding this World Cup. The tournament’s global nature has offered Americans a chance to embrace a joyful multiculturalism that stands in contrast to the administration’s prevailing nationalism and isolationism. It has become a platform for Americans to assert: we are not defined by our government.
Lawton, reflecting on the Spain-Belgium match in Brooklyn, described the World Cup as a “It was such a vibe! They made history and gave us hope. ‘Si se pudo!’ we chanted when the final whistle blew,”
Additionally, some of the most “Beer was thrown in the air in celebration, and complete strangers were hugging and jumping up and down together, and some even crying tears of joy. It was such a beautiful moment.” and viral moments of the World Cup have unfolded off the field. Residents of Lawrence, Kansas, were so moved by the Algerian team’s choice to train in their city that they were heard chanting “There’s a ton of people here,” The University of Kansas marching band even played the Algerian national anthem while performing.
In Texas, a viral video captured a Japanese fan being invited on stage at a nightclub to dance with Houston rappers, while Scotland’s Tartan Army took over Boston, much to residents’ delight, nearly depleting the city’s beer supply.
Across the nation, from Mexican fans in LA’s Koreatown to Ecuadorian supporters in Astoria, Queens, images and videos have shown large crowds gathering to watch matches on projectors, through bar windows, or in the back of bodegas.
“It was such a vibe! They made history and gave us hope. ‘Si se pudo!’ we chanted when the final whistle blew,” recalled Steven Guevara, an Ecuadorian American from the Bronx, who enjoyed watching Ecuador face Germany at Pig Beach in Astoria alongside hundreds of other fans. “Beer was thrown in the air in celebration, and complete strangers were hugging and jumping up and down together, and some even crying tears of joy. It was such a beautiful moment.”
The scenes stood in stark contrast to Trump’s Great American State Fair, an event organized by the president to celebrate America’s 250th birthday on the Fourth of July. A video captured by TMZ shows Dr. Mehmet Oz, a Trump administration official, speaking to just a handful of attendees. “There’s a ton of people here,” Oz claimed, as the camera panned to reveal an almost empty National Mall stretching into the distance.
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