Despite its scale, with the participation of 48 national teams and the organization of 104 matches, the 2026 World Cup in the United States, Canada, and Mexico attracted fewer than 30 percent of American adults, according to a public opinion survey published nine days before the start of the tournament.

More than two thirds of participants, 66 percent, out of 3,507 people included in a Pew Research Center survey conducted in March, said they will not follow the World Cup, which begins on the 11th of this month.

Fans of the U.S. national team. (AFP)

Survey on the percentage of people interested in the 2026 World Cup

According to the survey, only 28 percent will follow the global football event, while just 14 percent of respondents said they are actually interested. This suggests that football, despite being the most popular sport among young people, still needs greater expansion in the United States.

The Major League Soccer (MLS), which was founded a year before the 1994 World Cup held in the United States, experienced a long period of stagnation before seeing a boom about 10 years ago, driven by the arrival of major stars, most notably England’s David Beckham, Sweden’s Zlatan Ibrahimović, and Argentina’s Lionel Messi in 2023.

The league attracted 11.2 million spectators in 2025, but fans tend to show greater interest in prestigious European clubs or, for immigrant communities, in their countries of origin.

Spanish players. (AFP)

Fans’ expectations for the winner of the 2026 World Cup

The survey showed that 54 percent of immigrants want to follow the World Cup, compared to only 23 percent among those born in the United States.

Among immigrant communities, Asians at 44 percent and Latinos at 42 percent are the most interested in the event.

The strong presence of the Latino American community in the country, around 20 percent, is reflected in expectations regarding the winner on 19 July, as Spain received the highest share of votes at 9 percent, followed by Argentina, the defending champion, then Brazil at 8 percent. France, the World Cup runner up aiming for its third title, came in fourth, ahead of the United States at 7 percent each, as well as Germany and Mexico.

The Pew Center notes that responses may have changed since the survey was conducted, also referring to a previous survey conducted in 2023, which showed that American football, NFL, is the most popular sport in the United States for more than half of adults, at 53 percent, compared to only 3 percent for football.