The 1/8 finals of the 2026 FIFA World Cup are still underway and three of the last four matches can be seen live on Erste and in the ARD media library: USA – Belgium (kick-off: today at 2 am), Argentina – Egypt (kick-off: tomorrow at 18:00) and Switzerland – Colombia (kick-off: tomorrow at 22:00).
The first meetings in the quarterfinals have already been determined. ARD will broadcast the clash between 2018 world champions France and reigning African champions Morocco live on the former and in the ARD media library on Thursday, July 9 from 9:00 pm ET. At the same time, this match is a new version of the 2022 World Cup semi-final, which was then won by Tricolor. It is obvious that the Moroccan team is hungry for revenge for the defeat four years ago and, of course, would like to reach the semi-finals. Esther Sedlacek and Bastian Schweinsteiger will moderate the game (start: 22:00) live from the stadium in Boston, with Philipp Sommer providing commentary. All quarter-final games can also be heard in full audio coverage on ARD Sounds and on Sportschau.de.
Broadcasts of the five ARD games from the round of 16 in the first were watched by an average of 5.751 million viewers with a market share of 33.3 percent. The most successful games were the South Africa – Canada games, held on June 28 at 21:00. with 7.359 million (34.5% of the market) and Spain – Austria on July 2, also at 21:00. with 7.268 million viewers (37.1% of the market)*.
More information about the 2026 FIFA World Cup can be found at Sportschau.de, all about ARD World Cup broadcasts here: 2026 FIFA World Cup: schedule, reports, criticism. Südwestrundfunk is responsible for ARD’s coverage of the World Cup.
*TV usage data: AGF Videoforschung; AGF SCOPE, market standard for moving pictures, TV evaluation type
Press contact:
ARD Sports Coordinator, Svantje Lemen Kühler,
Tel. 089/55 89 44 780, email: swantje.lemenkuehler@ard.de
Felix Ozer, SWR PR and Press
Tel. 07221/929 22986, email: felix.oser@SWR.de