For the first time in more than three decades, the United States is co-hosting the world’s most-watched soccer tournament. For the sports and fitness industry, that’s more than a cultural moment. It’s a participation opportunity. New data from the Sports & Fitness Industry Association (SFIA) shows Americans are paying attention, getting excited, and, crucially, getting active.
At SFIA, we track sports participation trends year-round through our Physical Activity Council (PAC) survey, an annual, nationally representative study of 18,000 respondents. What we’re seeing heading into this summer’s tournament is encouraging for anyone invested in the future of soccer and sport broadly.
Soccer Participation Has Been on the Rise Before a Single Match Is Played
Indoor and outdoor soccer participation has climbed steadily over the past three years. In January 2023, roughly 6.7% of Americans reported participating in soccer. By May 2026, that figure has grown to nearly 8%, representing approximately 24.9 million Americans playing indoor or outdoor soccer. That’s nearly 20% relative growth in participation rate.
This isn’t a blip. The trend line has been consistent and upward, reflecting a deepening soccer culture in the U.S. that the World Cup is poised to amplify further.
World Cup Buzz Is Building
American interest in the World Cup has grown month over month in 2026. In February, 24.4% of the total population said they planned to follow the tournament. By May, that number had risen to 34.4% — more than one in three Americans. Among current soccer players, the excitement is even more striking: 79.8% plan to watch.
Engagement goes beyond passive viewing. Nearly a quarter of Americans (23.2%) plan to watch full matches, and 23.8% will follow highlights and clips. Nearly 5% say they plan to travel to watch a match in person — a meaningful share when applied to the U.S. population ages 6+.
Who’s Tuning In: A Look at Viewership by Community
Interest in the tournament isn’t uniform — it’s especially strong in communities with deep soccer roots. Among Asian and Pacific Islander Americans, 52.0% plan to watch as of May, up from 43.9% in February. Hispanic Americans are close behind at 44.5% in May, after peaking at 49.6% in March. African American and Black Americans have seen growing interest, rising from 23.1% in February to 30.4% in May. Among Caucasian/White Americans, viewership intent climbed from 22.1% to 30.8% over the same period.
The across-the-board growth in viewership intent — across every demographic tracked — reflects the broad, unifying appeal of the tournament and its potential to activate participation in communities that may have been less engaged with soccer in prior years.
A New Generation of Players Is Watching
One of the most exciting signals in our data is what’s happening among non-players. Approximately 15.2 million Americans who don’t currently play soccer said in 2025 that they definitely intend to play in the next 12 months. That’s up from 10.7 million in 2021, and it represents a meaningful and growing pipeline of potential new participants. World Cup moments have historically converted viewers into players in the year of and the year after the tournament, our 2026 Soccer Spotlight Report found. The combination of home-field hosting, high media visibility, and rising participation rates positions 2026 as a genuine inflection point for soccer growth.
Hosting at Home Changes the Equation
When SFIA asked Americans whether the U.S. hosting a major sporting event — like the World Cup or the Olympics — makes them more likely to participate in sports or physical activity themselves, the results were striking.
Among youth team sport participants, 38.2% said they were “very likely” or “much more likely” to participate in sports or physical activity because of the home hosting — representing an estimated 12.3 million young athletes. Among adult team sport participants, that number was 26.2%, or an estimated 14.0 million adults (preliminary projected figures; youth and adult team sport totals not yet finalized). Even across the total population, 16.5% of Americans said the same — roughly 51.3 million people .
The “host country effect” is real, and the data bears it out. When the world’s biggest sporting stage comes to your backyard, people don’t just watch — they’re inspired to play.
What This Means for the Industry
For brands, retailers, facilities, and organizations across the sports and fitness ecosystem, this is a moment to lean in. The pipeline of interest is there: from the youth athlete inspired by watching games with their family, to the lapsed adult player who finds their way back to the pitch, to the first-timer who picks up a ball for the first time.
SFIA will be tracking participation trends throughout the tournament and beyond. We want to understand not just who is watching, but how this World Cup shapes the next generation of soccer players in America.
Want to know who is playing soccer in America right now? Download the SFIA Soccer Spotlight Report for an in-depth look at who is participating in indoor and outdoor soccer in 2025, including demographics, frequency, and cross-participation. The report also includes a deep dive into how the previous three World Cups impacted participation.
And follow SFIA throughout the 2026 World Cup as we track how this global spotlight moves the needle on participation.
By Jenny Karn, Senior Director, Sports & Fitness Industry Association (SFIA). For more information, reach out to [email protected].