2015 Women’s World Cup Final Most Watched Soccer Match in US History

26.7 million. That's how many people tuned in on Sunday to watch the United States Women's National Team beat Japan 5-2 in the Women's World Cup Final.

That's the highest number of viewers that has ever tuned in for a televised soccer match in US history. 25.4 million tuned into Fox for the English broadcast, and an additional 1.3 million tuned in to Telemundo for the Spanish broadcast. That total is higher than the 26.5 million that tuned in for the Germany v. Argentina World Cup Final match in 2014, the previously highest watched soccer match in the US.

In comparison, World Series Game 7 between San Francisco and Kansas City saw 23.5 million English viewers. Game 6 of the NBA Championship between Golden State and Cleveland also saw about 2 million fewer viewers than the World Cup Final.

However, the 2015 NCAA Men's Basketball Final topped the Women's World Cup match with 28.3 Million viewers. That number is a bit flat year to year, which shows that soccer definitely has the surge behind it.

Not even executives at Fox believed they could see that high of a number for this match. Mike Mulvihill, senior vice president for programming and research for Fox Sports had this to say about the audience.

No question, I underestimated where this would be. It’s one of the most pleasant surprises we’ve ever had.

Mulvihill originally estimated they could see upwards of 19 million for the final, topping the 17.9 million that tuned in the last time the US Women won the cup back in 1999.

22 of the 23 women from the US team are back to work this week with their respective club teams in the National Women's Soccer League.

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