Television viewership of Euros group-stage matches has nearly doubled from the 2022 iteration of the tournament, Fox announced Tuesday, with an average of 306,000 people tuning in to those 24 matches this summer, compared to an average of 161,000 three years ago.
The most-watched game so far has been France’s scintillating 2-1 victory over reigning champion England on July 5. That game brought in 690,000 viewers, a 329 percent increase from the previous group stage.
More recently, 2023 World Cup champion Spain’s 3-1 win over Italy on July 11 averaged 568,000 viewers, while an average of 486,000 tuned in for Sweden’s 4-1 victory over Germany on July 12. Both matches featured the winning teams coming back from a goal down to claim three points.
A Fox spokesperson also told The Athletic that England’s 6-1 win over Wales garnered around 151,000 viewers to FS1, while the Lionesses’ 4-0 rout of the Netherlands brought 120,000 to the same channel.
“UEFA Women’s EURO 2025 has surpassed all our expectations in setting a new viewership record for the group stage. Fox Sports is proud to see our commitment to both international soccer and women’s sports validated by +90% growth,” Fox Sports president of insight and analytics Mike Mulvihill said in a statement.
“With the knockout rounds starting Wednesday and matches the rest of the way airing on Fox, we’re confident the tournament will continue resonating with fans,” Mulvihill added.
This is Fox Sports’ first time broadcasting the women’s European championships. In addition to airing the matches themselves — not only on cable but on its main broadcast channel — the network has featured prominent pre-match coverage featuring a slate of retired international women’s football stars.
World Cup champions Carli Lloyd (who is also a National Soccer Hall of Famer) and Julie Ertz of the U.S. women’s national team, and four-time European champion Ariane Hingst of Germany composed the analyst team alongside Alexi Lalas and Stu Holden at the start of the tournament.
Norway and Italy will open the Euros’ quarterfinal stage when they face off on Wednesday in Geneva. Thursday’s quarterfinal features Sweden against England, followed by Spain vs. tournament host Switzerland on Friday and France vs. Germany on Saturday.
All matches kick off at 3 p.m. ET.
(Photo: Nick Potts / PA Images via Getty Images)
Tamerra Griffin is a women’s soccer writer for The Athletic covering the women’s game around the world. She also hosts the weekly “Full Time” women’s soccer podcast. As a freelance journalist, she covered the 2023 World Cup in Australia and the CONCACAF W Gold Cup for The Athletic, as well as women’s soccer stories for ESPN Andscape, USA Today’s Pro Soccer Wire, and other publications. Prior to that, she was an international correspondent based in Kenya, where she reported on presidential elections and political movements, LGBTQ and women’s rights, climate change, and much more across East and Southern Africa. Follow Tamerra on Twitter @tamerra_nikol
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