Sample some facts put out by FIFA for the soccer World Cup being held in Qatar.

# Group stage match versus Costa Rica generates the highest audience of the year in Japan.

# La Albiceleste’s encounter with Mexico draws an audience share of 81.3 percent in Argentina.

# England v USA most watched men’s football match on US television ever .

Even as cumulative stadium attendance of 2.45 million spectators, which equals an average of 96 percent occupancy, has been reported by FIFA, the soccer fiesta’s viewership on TV and online has been dishing out an equally impressive performance — and numbers.

FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 is continuing to engage TV audiences around the world with record-breaking numbers across multiple markets, soccer’s global governing body has said in a statement.

In Japan, for example, the group game between Japan and Costa Rica on November 27 drew an average audience of 36.37 million viewers. This surpassed the audience of their incredible comeback against Germany in their tournament opener by over 10 million and was 74 percent higher than the average domestic group stage audience during the FIFA World Cup in 2018.

On November 24 in the Korea Republic, 11.14 million people watched the tournament opener against Uruguay. The broadcast saw a 97 percent increase in TV audience compared to the average for group stage matches at the FIFA World Cup in Brazil in 2014 and 18 percent higher than at Russia 2018.

Fans in Europe have also been tuning in for the second round of group stage matches in great numbers On November 28, 65 percent of people watching TV in Spain saw La Roja take on Germany in one of the most anticipated games of the tournament so far. 11.9 million was the combined audience across coverage on La1 and GOL MUNDIAL, exceeding the audience of any group stage game for the FIFA World Cup in 2018.

Incredibly, over three quarters (76.6 percent) of all people watching TV in the Netherlands witnessed Cody Gakpo’s wonder strike in their 1-1 draw with Ecuador. This was the highest TV audience in the country in 2022 and greater than any match during the FIFA World Cup in 2018.

In France, Les Bleus’ encounter with Denmark, was broadcast on TF1. Averaging an audience of 11.6 million viewers, the programme audience peaked in the closing minutes of the match as 14.56 million watched Kylian Mbappe score a late winner.

This was the highest peak of the tournament in France so far, beating 14 million viewers during France’s opening match against Australia, the FIFA statement said.

Portugal’s match with Uruguay on November 28 was the highest TV audience in Portugal for a FIFA World Cup match ever. In total, 5.35 million viewers in Portugal watched at least one minute of coverage as the team progressed to the knockout stages.

The coverage held an audience share of 69.5 percent as A Seleção got their second win in as many games at the tournament. Over 80 percent of the Portuguese TV landscape has now watched at least one minute of the tournament’s coverage.

The interest in the beautiful game in the United States continues to grow with new records continuously being broken. The English-language coverage of USA’s encounter with England on November 25 was the most watched men’s football match on US television ever, with a peak audience of 19.65 million viewers on FOX.

NBC-Universal’s Spanish-language coverage of the match on Telemundo was the second-most watched FIFA World Cup group stage match featuring a United States team in Spanish-language history. The following day, as Argentina and Mexico met in a crucial Group C tie, the Telemundo broadcast in the US was the most-watched FIFA World Cup Group Stage match in Spanish-language history in the country, and the second largest of any stage, ever.

Meanwhile, in Mexico, coverage of the same match delivered a national audience of 20.96 million viewers. The combined share across three channels broadcasting the game was 67.9 percent. This was higher than the top combined rating in the territory for any match of the FIFA World Cup in 2018.

In addition, the average audience in Canada for their make-or-break tie with Croatia was 4.33 million, with a share of 68.4 percent. This was 17 percent higher than Canada’s opening match and 12 percent higher than the top combined audience in the territory for the 2018 tournament.

Passion for the game in South America knows no bounds with fans unsurprisingly as engaged as ever. In Argentina, the average audience for the two-time winners of the FIFA World Cup in their pivotal match with Mexico was 8.48 million, delivering an amazing audience share of 81.3 percent.

The programme audience was the highest of the tournament so far in the country and 5 percent higher than both their first match against Saudi Arabia, and the average audience for their group stage matches during the FIFA World Cup 2018.

Meanwhile, after 13 days and 48 matches, the first edition of the FIFA World Cup to be hosted in the Middle East and Arab world has presented an array of facts and figures, starting with a cumulative stadium attendance of 2.45 million spectators.

That equals an average of 96 percent occupancy and is higher than the corresponding 2.17 million figure for the 2018 edition. The highest attendance in the history of the FIFA World Cup since the 1994 final was seen at Lusail Stadium, where 88,966 fans witnessed the Argentina v. Mexico match.

(Match photo courtesy FIFA website)