World Cup 2026: USMNT draws its most-watched telecast ever during win over Paraguay, averaging close to 16 million viewers

The United State men's national team inspired confidence on Friday night that it can make a run in the 2026 World Cup . At SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California, the Americans turned in a showing that belonged in Hollywood . They started and finished on the aggressive , dominating possession throughout a 4-1 victory over Paraguay in their first match of group play. The USMNT’s four goals were the most it’s scored in a World Cup match, period. And, according to Fox Sports PR , the 15,986,000 viewers, on average, the USMNT drew on Fox, Fox One and Tubi were a record, too. In fact, that made up the most-watched USMNT telecast ever. It doubled as the most-watched men’s World Cup group stage telecast in English-language U.S. history, according to Fox. The showdown between Group D teams peaked with 18,860,000 viewers from 10:45-11 p.m. ET, per Fox. The average viewership was up 106% from the USMNT’s 2022 World Cup opener in Qatar, where it pulled in an average of 7,763,000 viewers amid a 1-1 tie with Wales on Nov. 21 of that year. In its ratings report, Fox cited Nielsen preliminary fast-nationals, Adobe Analytics and data from the Fox-owned streaming service Tubi. It's worth noting that Nielsen shifted to a new methodology last fall that couples its traditional panel with "Big Data" from smart TVs and set-top boxes. That’s notable when considering the surging figures, as is the fact that, per Sports Media Watch , the 2026 World Cup is just the second since Nielsen started including out-of-home viewing in its estimates. Right from the jump, this year’s World Cup has indicated that a multitude of viewership records are in danger of being broken. The tournament’s opener, a Thursday afternoon match between Mexico and South Africa, attracted an average of 6,309,000 viewers while Mexico secured a 2-0 win in Mexico City, per Fox , which cited the same combination of ratings data as above on Friday. That meant that, according to Fox, Mexico-South Africa was the most-watched men’s World Cup opening match and non-USMNT World Cup group stage telecast in English-language U.S. history.