Telemundo’s World Cup Coverage Wins Over Millions of Americans, Challenging Fox as Soccer’s Tv Leader

The 2026 FIFA World Cup ended on the pitch Sunday, but one of the tournament’s biggest victories happened on television.

Throughout the month-long tournament, Telemundo attracted millions of viewers—including a growing number of English-speaking fans—helping deliver some of the largest Spanish-language television audiences in U.S. history.

The network’s success has become one of the defining media stories of the World Cup, with NBCUniversal executives pointing to the tournament as proof that soccer has reached a new level of popularity across the United States.

NBCUniversal News Group Chairman Cesar Conde said the growing number of non-Spanish-speaking viewers choosing Telemundo’s broadcasts demonstrates Americans’ increasing appetite for the sport.

Many fans said they preferred Telemundo’s broadcasts for their energy, passion, and connection to the global soccer experience. Legendary play-by-play announcer Andrés Cantor’s iconic goal calls, along with the network’s immersive presentation, helped attract viewers who traditionally watched matches in English.

Telemundo delivered record-breaking audiences during the tournament, including a historic 23.2 million viewers for Mexico’s Round of 16 victory over England, making it the most-watched Spanish-language soccer broadcast ever in the United States and outperforming Fox’s English-language audience for that match.

The trend reflects a broader shift in how Americans consume soccer. Instead of choosing a broadcast based solely on language, many fans are selecting the viewing experience they find most exciting.

With the World Cup now complete, attention turns to the official Nielsen ratings for the championship match and the tournament as a whole.

Those figures, expected in the coming days, will determine whether Telemundo also finished ahead of Fox for the World Cup Final and could further cement what has already been a historic tournament for Spanish-language sports television.

Regardless of where the final ratings land, the 2026 FIFA World Cup has shown that soccer’s audience in the United States is larger than ever—and that for millions of fans, the excitement of the broadcast matters more than the language being spoken.