The 2025 FIFA Club World Cup Reasserts America’s Passion for Soccer

1 in 3 Americans and 4 in 5 soccer fans will watch/follow the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup (CWC)
2025 CWC watch/follow numbers are at the same level as the 2022 Men’s and 2023 Women’s World Cups
Fan interest in soccer jumped nearly 10 points in the last 3 years
Fan excitement for the 2026 World Cup is up 13 points compared to 2022

New data from the Seton Hall Sports Poll shows the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup (CWC) projects to be a winner. Over a third of Americans (35%), 51 percent of sports fans, and 83 percent of soccer fans polled plan on watching and/or following the newly expanded 32-team CWC that is coming to America this week. 

These numbers are equal to or higher than the bigger and historically more significant 2023 Women’s (Watchers: Americans 30% – sports fans 46% – soccer fans 67%) and 2022 Men’s (Watchers: Americans 29% – sports fans 44% – soccer fans 77%) World Cup competitions.

Held in the U.S. for the first time and serving as a precursor to next summer’s 2026 Men’s World Cup, this tournament features the top 32 Club teams (e.g., Real Madrid, Paris St. Germain (PSG), Manchester City, Bayern Munchen, Inter Miami FC, etc.) across North America, South America, Europe, Asia and Africa. The tournament will be held across 12 cities in the United States, with the final being played at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey. Previous versions of the Club World Cup included just seven teams.  

“These fan watch numbers are strong, and it is surprising to see them on par or higher than the previous two World Cups,” said Daniel Ladik, Ph.D., Marketing Professor in the Stillman School of Business and Methodologist for the Poll. “While the teams in the expanded Club World Cup are well known, this tournament is not. Yet, the Seton Hall Sports Poll has been tracking the rise of soccer fan interest and fueling Americans’ passion for the sport.”

 These results are derived from a Seton Hall Sports Poll conducted April 21-23rd among 1,531 adults. The Poll, which is sponsored by The Sharkey Institute within Seton Hall University’s Stillman School of Business, features a national representative sample from YouGov Plc. weighted on U.S. Census Bureau figures for age, gender, ethnicity, education, income and geography and has a margin of error of +/-3.0 percent.  

Soccer’s Growth is UP!

The Poll has been tracking soccer fan interest since 2022 aligning with the run up to the Men’s 2022 World Cup. The Poll defines fans as those who indicated that soccer is a “top interest” or “somewhat interested” while non-fans are who are “not very interested” or “not interested at all.” Since March 2022, soccer fandom among Americans grew 9 points (March 2022 – 26% vs. April 2025 – 35%) and the growth is also present among sports fans (March 2022 – 41% vs. April 2025 – 49%).

By comparison, the Poll’s April 2025 fandom ranks the National Football League (Americans 55% and sports fans 83%), Major League Baseball (Americans 43% and sports fans 61%), and the National Basketball Association (Americans 39% and sports fans 60%) ahead of U.S. soccer fandom.

All Eyes on the 2026 FIFA Men’s World Cup

Arguably, even when compared to the multi-event Olympics, the sheer numbers and attraction to soccer crowns the Men’s World Cup as the world’s most popular sporting event. This week marks the one-year countdown to the international tournament which is to be held in the U.S., Mexico and Canada. Soccer fandom among Americans has grown substantially over the last three years.

The Poll forecasts that the 2026 Cup will exceed fan interest compared to the 2022 Cup by a wide margin. When asked in March 2022, three weeks before the start of the 2022 World Cup, 25 percent of Americans and 38 percent of sports fans said they were excited that the 2026 Men’s World Club will be held in the U.S. Polled a full 14 months before the 2026 World Cup, the numbers to the same question rise to 38 percent of Americans and 54 percent of sports fans. If the precedent of the 2022 World Cup polling trends holds, we expect the watch and/or follow numbers to increase a minimum of 10 to 15 percent by the start of the tournament.

“Give FIFA credit for enlivening the Club World Cup with its growth now that it is coming to America and using it as a launching pad for the bigger tournament next summer,” says Charles Grantham, Director of the Center for Sport Management in the Stillman School of Business at Seton Hall University. “The fans are getting the benefit of FIFA expanding on one of its strengths, the popularity of the clubs. It continues the trend of rightsholders and leagues not standing pat and recognizing they must give the fans new reasons to stay involved. The NHL just did that with Four Nations, the NBA started the in-season tournament two years ago, and MLB changed their rules. All these moves are targeted to keep the fans engaged.” 

ABOUT THE POLL

The Seton Hall Sports Poll, conducted regularly since 2006, is performed by the Sharkey Institute within the Stillman School of Business. The poll is run by Charles Grantham, Professor of Sport Management and former Executive Director of the National Basketball Players Association. Professor Daniel Ladik is the Methodologist for the Seton Hall Sports Poll, and Associate Professor Marketing in the Stillman School of Business at Seton Hall University. Len DeLuca is the associate director for the poll. The SHSP aims to explore a broader overview of sports issues including the Ethics of Sport, the Culture of Sport, and the Business of Sport. This poll was conducted online by YouGov Plc. using a national representative sample weighted according to gender, age, ethnicity, education, income and geography, based on U.S. Census Bureau figures. Respondents were selected from YouGov’s opt-in panel to be representative of all U.S residents. This poll release conforms to the Standards of Disclosure of the National Council on Public Polls. The Seton Hall Sports Poll has been chosen for inclusion in iPoll by Cornell’s Roper Center for Public Opinion Research and its findings have been published everywhere from USA Today, ESPN, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Boston

Globe, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Washington Post, AP, and Reuters to CNBC, NPR, Yahoo Finance, Fox News and many points in between.

Media: Laurie Pine, Director of Media Relations, Seton Hall University (973) 378-2638; (973) 902-8060.

April 2025 Seton Hall Sports Poll Results

 Daniel Ladik, Ph.D., Methodologist – daniel.ladik@shu.edu

 This Poll was conducted April 21st through April 23rd and includes responses from 1,531 U.S. adults with a margin of error of +/- 3.0%. The sample mirrors the U.S. Census percentages on age, gender, income, education, ethnicity, and region. The Poll is sponsored by the Sharkey Institute within the Center for Sport Management in the Stillman School of Business at Seton Hall University.  

Data presented below from polls prior to April 2025 can be found at: https://blogs.shu.edu/sportspoll/

Q1. Which of the following statements best describes you? [April 2025]  

*Note: Presented in each table, Avid + Casual = total sports fandom in the data. Some tables break out the Avid and Casual segments.  

 Q2c. What is your level of interest in soccer (i.e., any professional leagues in the U.S. or around the world, as well as international competitions)? [April 2025]  

And now a few questions about soccer…  

Q7a. Do you currently watch soccer on TV and/or on a streaming service? [April 2025]  

Q7b. Do you plan on watching/following the 2025 Club World Cup? [April 2025]   

Q4a. The Women’s World Cup is one of the biggest international soccer tournaments, and only 32 nations from around the world qualify. Do you plan on watching/following the 2023 Women’s World Cup? [May 2023]

 Q6a. The World Cup is the biggest international soccer tournament, and only 32 nations from around the world qualify. Do you plan on watching/following the 2022 World Cup? [Nov 2022]

Next summer, the 2026 FIFA World Cup will also be held in the United States (along with Canada and Mexico) and features the top national teams across the world (Spain, Germany, Brazil, Argentina, United States, etc.)  

Q8. The 2026 Men’s FIFA World Cup will be held in the U.S. The U.S. last hosted the Men’s World Cup in 1994. Does the World Cup being hosted in the U.S. make you more interested in watching 2026 World Cup games?  [April 2025]  

 Q14d. The next World Cup (i.e. 2026 as the tournament is only played every 4 years) will be held in the U.S. The U.S. last hosted the World Cup in 1994. Does the World Cup being hosted in the U.S. again make you more interested in watching 2026 World Cup games? [March 2022]  

What is your level of interest in soccer (i.e., any professional leagues in the U.S. or around the world, as well as international competitions)? 

Notes

The ranking below is based on scores from the top two “This is one of my TOP interests” + “Somewhat interested” versus the bottom two answer choices “Not very interested” + “Not interested at all.” 
Fans are defined as those who indicate that soccer is a “top” or “somewhat” interested while non-fans are “not very” or “not at all” interested in soccer.

April 2025 

October 2024