World Cup 2026: 30 million people watched USMNT-Belgium, making it the most-watched soccer match in U.S. history

The United States men’s national team was knocked out of the World Cup on Monday night after a rough showing against Belgium. 

The match, however, still drew a massive audience and set an all-time soccer record in the United States.

Fox announced on Tuesday that 30 million people tuned in to watch the United States fall to Belgium 4-1 in Seattle. The audience peaked at just shy of 37 million people, too. That made it the most-watched soccer telecast in American history. 

By comparison, the NBA Finals earlier this summer averaged more than 20 million viewers on ABC and ESPN, which made it the most-watched NBA Finals since 1998. The deciding Game 5 of that series averaged 24.5 million viewers.

Belgium cruised to the three-goal win on Monday at a sold-out Lumen Field in Seattle, which pushed them into the quarterfinals. The United States won its group and won a knockout stage game for the first time since 2002, but largely fell flat on Monday in a sloppy contest. Christian Pulisic struggled before leaving early with a leg injury, and Folarin Balogun — who was thrown into a controversy with FIFA and President Donald Trump in recent days after this red card in the first knockout stage game — didn’t impact the contest much at all. 

“Today wasn’t a good day,” midfielder Tyler Adams said after the loss. “It stings. This was a moment to have the opportunity to advance and really try and do something special.

“We fell short.”

This post will be updated with more information shortly.