More than eight million people watched the United States beat France in their FIFA Women's World Cup quater-final on Fox Sports ©Fox

Global audiences are set to reach one billion by the time the FIFA Women's World Cup finishes on Sunday in Lyon, France, according to Fox Sports.

With just the semi-finals and final to be played, the American broadcaster claims FIFA have forecast more than one billion views of the tournament.

Fox has English-language rights to 2019 World Cup revealed a record peak of 8.24 million television viewers for the United States 2-1 quarter-final win against France at Parc des Princes in Paris last Friday (June 28), with similar figures expected when the reigning champions take on England in Lyon later today.

The figure represents a seven per cent increase on the numbers who tuned in for America's quarter-final with China in 2015 in Canada.

More than 35 million viewers in Brazil watched on free-to-air Globo TV, the South Americans' crash out of the tournament against hosts France at Stade Océane in Le Havre on June 23. 

In Italy, the previous best viewing figures had been just 202,844 for the 2011 FIFA World Cup Final between the US and Japan. 

In Italy, more than seven million people tuned in to watch the Azzurri defeat Australia 2-1 at the FIFA Women's World Cup - the previous highest audience for the competition had been 202,844 ©Getty Images
In Italy, more than seven million people tuned in to watch the Azzurri defeat Australia 2-1 at the FIFA Women's World Cup - the previous highest audience for the competition had been 202,844 ©Getty Images

They eclipsed that this summer as 7.3 million tuned in to their opening clash against Australia as Barbara Bonansea scored an injury-time winner for the Azzurri at Stade du Hainaut in Valenciennes.

The BBC said the 2019 tournament had surpassed 22.2 million global views exceeding the 12.4 million who tuned into the 2015 World Cup.

After the group stage FIFA claimed posts on the official Women’s World Cup digital channels had gained a combined 433 million views so far, of which 82 million were video views of goals, highlights and analysis.

They also revealed posts on the official tournament Facebook page had gained a combined six million "likes".

Prize money for this year's tournament was doubled from $15 million (£12 million/€13 million) to $30 million (£24 million/€26.5 million) but still pales into insignificance compare to the $400 million (£316 million/€354 million) paid out to teams competing in the men's 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia.