Google says it broke all prior usage records, with its highest usage in history this week during the World Cup match between Argentina and Egypt. Nick Fox, SVP of Knowledge and Information at Google, made the comment. Neither he nor Google spokespersons provided any hard figures, however.
For those who don’t know, Google provides loads of information about soccer (football) matches such as live probability data, team lineups, match commentary, and more. It’s not clear why users rushed to Google right after Argentina scored the winning goal; it could have been to check the live probability to see what chance Egypt had of pulling off a surprise win or a draw.
Another theory could be the fact that this World Cup is being partially held in the United States, where soccer (football) is not as well developed as in Latin America and Europe, so Americans could have been flocking to Google to figure out what’s going on.
Google Search broke all prior usage records and saw its highest usage in history right after Argentina scored their winning goal in yesterday’s match! 🤯 Great to see the global excitement for the World Cup... can"t wait for the semis and final!
— Nick Fox (@thefox) July 8, 2026
The match was quite exciting; Argentina is ranked as the second-best team in the world according to Elo Ratings, while Egypt is ranked 34th. Despite this, Egypt managed to get a respectable two-nil lead over the South American side; then, within the last 15 minutes of the game, Argentina managed to score three goals, knocking Egypt out of the competition and qualifying for the quarter-finals. It now faces the formidable Switzerland on Sunday, with a 57% probability of winning, according to Google.
Given that we are not even at the most intense part of the World Cup yet, there is a very good chance that Google could even exceed the records it has just reached.
Have you been watching the tournament? Who are you cheering on now? The remaining teams are France, Morocco, Spain, Belgium, Norway, England, Argentina, and Switzerland.