Spain’s dramatic 1-0 victory against Argentina in Sunday’s World Cup final was a ratings winner, with viewership that peaked at more than 62 million in North America and set a record for the most-watched English-language soccer telecast in U.S. history,
Fox announced Tuesday that the final drew 38.937 million viewers, including a peak of 51.685 million.
The previous mark for English-language television viewership was set earlier in this year’s tournament, when the U.S. fell to Belgium in the round of 16, Variety reported. The national team’s defeat drew 33.089 million viewers.
Telemundo and Peacock’s preliminary numbers for the final match came in at 23.9 million viewers, making it the most-watched soccer match ever in Spanish-language TV history, according to Variety.
Fox averaged 7.737 million viewers for the 104 broadcasts on Fox, FS1 and Tubi, ESPN reported. That was a jump from 3.588 million in 2022 and 2.77 million in 2018.
Numbers for Sunday’s final (16,784,000 average viewers) were 132% higher than the 2022 World Cup final between France and Argentina in Qatar, Variety reported. They were also 240% higher than the 2018 final in Russia between France and Croatia (11,441,000 average viewership), according to the entertainment news outlet.
According to Fox, Sunday’s numbers represented the highest viewership for a non-Super Bowl sporting event since the 1984 Winter Olympics.
The numbers spiked for Fox at 5:45 p.m. ET, when 51,685,000 viewers saw Ferran Torres score the match’s only goal during the 106th minute, Variety reported.
Despite the U.S. loss to Belgium, interest in the World Cup remained high, ESPN reported.
Star players such as Argentina’s Lionel Messi, France’s Kylian Mbappé and Norway‘s Erling Haaland became household names across North America. Stadiums still remained filled despite high ticket prices, according to the sports cable network.
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