Cloudflare's World Cup Data Reveals How Live Sports Reshape Global Internet Traffic

Cloudflare's latest Radar report on the 2026 World Cup is a masterclass in using edge-network data to observe real-world behavior. By comparing per-minute HTTP traffic during matches against a four-week median baseline, the team quantified how live sports yank entire countries online — or pull them off.

Kickoff time is the dominant variable

The single biggest factor shaping traffic deviation is match timing. Matches played between midnight and 8 a.m. local time produce the largest spikes — fans awake when they'd normally be asleep push traffic to more than double the baseline. Conversely, matches during daytime working hours barely register: the audience was already online. The effect is symmetric: a match in the evening can cause traffic to drop to 70% of normal as people put down devices to watch.

The Brazil vs. Japan Round of 32 game illustrates this perfectly. Kickoff in Brasília fell during waking hours; traffic dipped below normal. In Tokyo, the same match aired at night, producing a traffic surge to roughly double the baseline. Two countries, one match, opposite curves.

Which matches moved the needle most?

Cloudflare ranked matches by median absolute deviation across all countries (excluding concurrent group-stage games). The top spot belongs to Argentina vs. Switzerland (quarterfinal, July 11), which moved traffic by a factor of 1.26x — ahead of the France vs. Spain semifinal at 1.21x. The list is dominated by knockout rounds, but even Round of 32 ties cracked the top.

Argentina also topped the team ranking: when they played, the typical country's traffic swung 17% from normal. France, Brazil, Portugal, Morocco, Spain, and Norway (fueled by Haaland) followed. Haiti and Iraq appear as outliers due to high deviation relative to their typical traffic, likely from matches against major teams.

Streaming explains the halftime dip

Cloudflare clustered countries by traffic shape during matches. The largest group (44 countries) shows traffic rising during hydration breaks and halftime — people reach for their phones. A second, smaller group (8 countries, including Algeria, Tunisia, Jordan, Egypt, and DR Congo) shows the opposite: traffic dips during breaks. The explanation: streaming. In countries where a larger share of viewers watch via streaming, the video feed keeps people away from other browsing even during pauses.

A third outlier cluster is Iran, whose baseline was measured during a partial internet shutdown, distorting the deviation.

Sports betting traffic flattened

Requests to gambling sites increased overall and lost their weekly rhythm, flattening into a constant high level — likely driven by the near-daily match schedule.