2026 World Cup / UK: 7.8 million viewers for Mexico - England despite the match kicking off at 2:00

Mexico - England (2-3), Round of 16 of the 2026 World Cup, drew an average of 7.8 million viewers with a peak at 9.1 million on the BBC’s channels in the United Kingdom, on Monday 6 July 2026 (kick-off at 2:00 GMT, 3:00 CET), according to figures released by the BBC.

"It is the biggest television audience ever for a live UK broadcast between 02:00 and 04:00," the public broadcaster said. The kick-off, originally scheduled for 2:00 (CET), was delayed by one hour due to weather conditions.

In the United States, the match became the most-watched football game in Spanish-language in the country’s history, with an average of 23.1 million viewers across the Telemundo group’s channels (NBCUniversal), according to preliminary data from Nielsen and Adobe Analytics (kick-off at 19:00 local time)…