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Soccer has overtaken ice hockey to become the fourth most popular sport in the US - and the 2026 World Cup in America is going to give the beautiful game another huge boost as it chases down baseball in third place

Football is climbing the league table of popular US sports and has now overtaken ice hockey in fourth place and is homing in on baseball in third.

The bumper £2billion deal the Premier League struck with NBC after a battle among American broadcasters this month reflects the growing popularity of the sport.

The English top flight doubled its money when the channel renewed its contract and committed to show 380 games for six seasons on its cable and digital channels.

The most-watched Premier League match stateside was Manchester United's 2-0 win over Manchester City in March 2020, when 1.76million saw the game live on American television

And an analysis by Sportsmail shows that Association Football - known as soccer in the US - has now overhauled ice hockey and sits behind baseball, basketball and American football in the top five US sports.