Kylian Mbappe celebrates after scoring PSG's late winner against Real Madrid
Kylian Mbappe

France and Spain meet Tuesday in the first World Cup semifinal, a clash between the tournament's two top FIFA-ranked teams with a spot in Sunday's final on the line, and American viewers have multiple ways to tune in from AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.

Kickoff is set for 3 p.m. Eastern time, with broadcast coverage beginning an hour earlier. The match will air on FOX's main network in English, marking a shift from the FS1 coverage some earlier matches received, with streaming available through the FOX One and FOX Sports apps. Viewers without traditional cable can also stream the match through fubo, which carries FOX along with more than 100 other channels and offers a free trial for new subscribers, or through DirecTV, which is also offering a free trial for the tournament. For Spanish-language coverage, the match airs on Telemundo and streams live on Peacock and the Telemundo app.

FOX's broadcast team for Tuesday's match includes John Strong on play-by-play alongside former U.S. men's national team midfielder Stu Holden, with Mark Clattenberg offering rules analysis and Jenny Taft and Natalie Gedra reporting from the stadium. Studio coverage will be led by Rebecca Lowe alongside Thierry Henry, Zlatan Ibrahimović and Alexi Lalas, with a secondary panel hosted by Rob Stone featuring Javier "Chicharito" Hernández and Landon Donovan. On the Spanish-language side, Luis Omar Tapia and Diego Balado will handle commentary for Telemundo, with additional analysis from Iván Zamorano, Andrés Guardado and Guti.

France enters the match having won all six of its matches at this tournament, outscoring opponents 16-2 and reaching the semifinal without conceding a single goal throughout the entire knockout phase. Kylian Mbappé leads the tournament's Golden Boot race with eight goals, tied with Argentina's Lionel Messi, and has become the first player in World Cup history to score at least eight goals in back-to-back tournaments. With 20 career World Cup goals, Mbappé sits just one behind Messi's all-time record of 21, a mark he is widely expected to eventually surpass, if not this tournament then the next. France winger Michael Olise, playing in his first World Cup, has matched that offensive standard from midfield, recording a tournament-high six assists, one shy of tying Pelé's all-time single-tournament assist record.

Spain's path to the semifinal has looked less dominant on paper but has been built on historic defensive solidity. Aside from a 4-0 rout of Saudi Arabia in the group stage, every Spanish win at this tournament has been decided by a single goal, including a stoppage-time winner against Portugal and an 88th-minute goal from substitute Mikel Merino that eliminated Belgium in the quarterfinals. Spain's 2-1 win over Belgium ended a streak of six consecutive matches without allowing a goal, the longest such run in World Cup history, while goalkeeper Unai Simón's stretch of 649 consecutive scoreless minutes broke the previous tournament record of 622, set by Germany's Nadine Angerer. Merino has scored twice for Spain, while Mikel Oyarzabal has emerged as the team's top attacking threat with four goals and an assist.

Both starting lineups were confirmed ahead of kickoff. France will start Mike Maignan in goal behind a back line of Jules Koundé, Dayot Upamecano, William Saliba and Lucas Digne, with Aurélien Tchouaméni and Adrien Rabiot in midfield supporting an attacking trio of Ousmane Dembélé, Michael Olise and Bradley Barcola alongside captain Mbappé. Spain will start Unai Simón in goal behind Pedro Porro, Pau Cubarsí, Aymeric Laporte and Marc Cucurella, with captain Rodri and Fabián Ruiz in midfield, and Lamine Yamal, Dani Olmo and Álex Baena supporting lone striker Oyarzabal.

The buildup to Tuesday's match has featured some pre-game verbal sparring between the two camps. Spain's 18-year-old sensation Lamine Yamal claimed France should be "afraid" of Spain heading into the match, prompting a response from French defender Ibrahima Konaté, who insisted Les Bleus would not be intimidated. Spain captain Rodri, meanwhile, has urged his young teammate to manage his "anxiety" and focus on his own performance rather than external expectations, a notable dynamic given that Yamal, despite scoring in Spain's opening group match against Saudi Arabia, has not registered another goal contribution across the rest of the tournament, a marked contrast from his standout performances at Euro 2024 and the 2025 UEFA Nations League.

Tuesday's match carries significant historical weight beyond the individual storylines. Spain holds the edge in the broader head-to-head series between the two nations, winning six of their last 10 meetings, including victories over France in both the UEFA Euro 2024 semifinals and the 2025 UEFA Nations League. France, however, holds a memorable World Cup history against Spain, having beaten the Spanish 3-1 in the round of 16 back in 2006. France is chasing its third consecutive World Cup final appearance, having won the title in 2018 and finished as runner-up in 2022, while Spain has not reached this stage of the tournament since capturing the World Cup in 2010.

For Mbappé personally, Tuesday's match carries added significance following a turbulent club season at Real Madrid, despite continuing to post standout individual numbers throughout that stretch. Should France reach and go on to win the final, Mbappé, at 27, would have a strong chance of becoming just the second player in history to win multiple World Cup titles before turning 27, a feat previously achieved only by Pelé.

Fans hoping to access broadcasts tied to their home country or working around regional restrictions have been advised by several outlets to consider using a reputable virtual private network, connecting to a server in the desired country and clearing browser cache or cookies before attempting to stream through a broadcaster's website or app, a common workaround for major international sporting events.

The winner of Tuesday's match will advance to face the winner of Wednesday's semifinal between England and Argentina, played in Atlanta, for the World Cup title at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, on Sunday, July 19. With France's ruthless, counterattacking form squaring off against Spain's suffocating defensive record, Tuesday's contest sets up as one of the most tightly contested matchups of the tournament's closing stages, with the sport's two highest-ranked national teams meeting for a place in the final.

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