Argentina’s 2-1 victory over England in the World Cup semifinals has set new television viewership records in both the United States and the United Kingdom.
According to Variety, the match averaged 15.063 million viewers on Fox Sports—making it the most-watched World Cup semifinal in English-language history. The broadcast peaked at an astonishing 22.177 million viewers during the final moments, far surpassing the previous day’s Spain-France semifinal, which averaged 11.462 million.
For context, the previous record for a World Cup semifinal on Fox was the 6.595 million viewers who tuned in for the France-Morocco clash in 2022. The 2022 semifinals as a whole averaged just 6.531 million on Fox, marking this year’s jump as unprecedented.
Across the Atlantic, the game also became the most-watched live TV broadcast in the UK in 2026, according to Radio Times. England’s heartbreaking loss to Argentina peaked at 24 million viewers—representing 85% of all TV viewing at the time—and averaged 22.1 million across BBC One and BBC iPlayer. This figure eclipsed the audience for England’s quarterfinal win over Norway and marked the BBC’s largest live audience since the Euro 2020 final.
The final chapter of this record-breaking tournament will see defending champions Argentina face European champions Spain in East Rutherford, New Jersey, while England and France battle for third place in Miami Gardens.
