American Football vs Soccer: Global Reach

American football is huge in the United States — the NFL Super Bowl is one of the biggest TV

events every year, with around 127.7 million U.S. viewers tuning in for Super Bowl LIX

in 2025, setting records across TV and streaming platforms . But when we look

at the global stage, European football — soccer — is on a totally different level.

The FIFA World Cup final draws billions of viewers worldwide, with past tournaments reaching over 1.4

billion viewers, and soccer itself has around 3.5 billion fans globally far more than the NFL’s

international footprint. So the answer? American football is massive in the U.S.,

dominating sports culture here — but European football (soccer) is far bigger globally,