Socceroos stop the nation as Australia v Paraguay smashes World Cup viewing records

In brief

The Socceroo's World Cup match on Friday was the highest-rated in SBS history.

Nearly five million people tuned in to watch Australia reach a 0-0 draw against Paraguay.

On Friday, records were broken when millions of Australians tuned in to see the Socceroos play their highest-stakes FIFA World Cup 2026 match so far.

Attracting nearly five million viewers, it was the most-watched World Cup match in history on SBS, according to national ratings rankings from Virtual Australia (VOZ).

Thrilled fans clamoured in pubs and live sites across the nation at midday on Friday, skipping work and school to witness Australia qualify for the knockout stage of the tournament with a draw against Paraguay,

After a crushing loss to the USA in their second group match of the tournament last week, Australia needed to either beat or tie with Paraguay to secure its spot in the next stage, the Round of 32.

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The young Socceroos team delivered.

A total of 4.844 million viewers and a total TV average audience of 3.086 million across linear television and digital streaming watched the Australia v Paraguay match.

It is the second most-watched broadcast in SBS history, behind the Socceroos' World Cup play-off victory against Uruguay in 2006 (3.416 million, national average audience).

The Paraguay-Australia post-match program attracted 2.872 million viewers, and the pre-match program attracted 2.277 million viewers.

Between live matches and pre- and post-match shows, SBS had the top three programs of the day and five of the top ten.

SBS' World Cup broadcast dominated Friday's free-to-air ratings.

Cumulatively, 13.9 million Australians, or about half the population, have watched some of the matches in the FIFA World Cup tournament.

The Socceroos' next game is at 4am Saturday, 4 July (AEST) in Arlington, Texas, near Dallas, when they will face Egypt.

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