‘Incredible’: Donald Trump’s ‘record’ World Cup viewership claim prompts mixed reaction

This summer’s World Cup will end on Sunday when Argentina and Spain face off in the final.

While Mexico and Canada were also hosts, the majority of the games have been held in the United States of America.

Both the final and the third-place match are taking place in the US this weekend, and President Donald Trump has now claimed nearly six billion people will have watched the tournament by the time the final games have taken place.

Donald Trump says nearly 6 billion people will have watched 2026 World Cup

Speaking alongside FIFA’s president, Trump said: “By the time the final whistle sounds on Sunday, nearly 6 billion viewers will have watched this World Cup. That’s a record by many, many times over.”

The reaction to his comments online has since been very mixed. Some have chosen to celebrate the success, including calling it ‘incredible’.

Others have been more negative, saying things like ‘who cares’ and that ‘Trump is deranged again’.

One suggested: “The World Cup really is one of the few events that brings billions of people together. The global reach is incredible.”

A second commented: “None of which has anything to do with Trump! He jinxed the US team by sticking his nose where it doesn’t belong!”

Another wrote: “The USA was the best host in the history of the World Cup ever, they did a fantastic job!!”

A third tweeted: “Who cares? Soccer is the most boring sport in existence.”

“Six billion people engaged with this World Cup by the final whistle. The scale of this tournament is officially on another planet. Love him or hate him, Trump’s call to host this thing was a massive success by every measurable metric,” stated a fourth.

Another replied: “The 2026 World Cup has clearly been a commercial and engagement success story, particularly in the host nations.”

A sixth suggested “Uhm, That’s not possible,” while another simply replied: “Who cares?”

“Nothing thanks to Trump, this is normal for a World Cup,” another added.

While an eighth claimed: “I think Trump misread the 6 million tickets sold as 6 billion viewers. The highest views gained by World Cup is 1.3 billion. 6 billion? Trump is deranged again.”

Exact viewership figures will not be available until after the tournament, but it will be interesting to see if more people watched this summer’s World Cup than the 2022 showpiece, which probably did not have as many viewers from the United States, given it was held in Qatar.

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