The epic 2022 World Cup Final — which saw Argentina win its third world championship in a tense penalty-kicks victory over France — has delivered record viewership numbers for Fox Sports.
Sunday’s match drew 16.8 million viewers for the telecast on Fox — the most watched men’s World Cup match on English-language American television ever, surpassing the United States-England match’s 15.4 million from Black Friday.
It was also the most-watched men’s Final in U.S. history, beating out the 1994 Final between Italy and Brazil (14.5M viewers).
It’s worth noting that these numbers are all referring to the entire telecast window — which includes pre-match coverage.
Spanish-language coverage on Telemundo reportedly contributed a robust 5.5 million viewers.
Men’s soccer is still chasing the women’s game for the all-time American viewership record.
The 2015 Women’s World Cup Final — a 5-2 victory for the United States over Japan — averaged just under 23 million viewers. It certainly helped that the match was held in Vancouver, Canada, and had a primetime slot at 7 p.m. ET.
The USWNT will take a run at their own record when they look to three-peat as champions at the 2023 Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.
