At halftime of the World Cup final on July 19, 2026 — with Spain and Argentina locked 0-0 at New York/New Jersey Stadium in East Rutherford — FIFA unveiled its first-ever final halftime show: an 11-minute, globe-spanning cavalcade of pop stars, orchestras, actors and beloved characters.
The lineup read like a map of contemporary music. Madonna opened the pageant in a roller-rink tableau (complete with a dune buggy driven by football legends Ronaldo and Ronaldinho). Coldplay’s Chris Martin closed the set, joined by children from Staten Island’s PS22 Chorus. K-pop supergroup BTS performed, Shakira led South American representation alongside conductor Gustavo Dudamel and members of both the New York Philharmonic and Venezuela’s Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra, and Afrobeats star Burna Boy — who recorded this year’s official World Cup song with Shakira — appeared as well. Justin Bieber, Australian singer Emmanuel Kelly, and other international acts rounded out the cast.
The show mixed big-name performances with playful cameos and cultural callbacks. Ted Lasso (Jason Sudeikis) and Coach Beard (Brendan Hunt) introduced Bieber, the Muppets (including Animal, Janice and Floyd Pepper) joined the orchestral musicians, and Ugandan viral dance troupe Ghetto Kids danced with Shakira. The program also nodded to fan moments from the tournament — orchestral musicians mimed the viral Norwegian row, and Congolese superfan Michel Nkuka Mboladinga, known for his Lumumba-inspired living-statue performances, was referenced during the spectacle.
Musically the halftime leaned into anthem-sized moments: Dudamel’s orchestras and guests played the stadium favorite “Seven Nation Army,” and the show culminated in a colorful, family-friendly finale underscoring unity and love. Visuals emphasized inclusivity — rainbow-hued costumes and a giant LOVE motif — and the event carried an explicit philanthropic purpose.
FIFA used the platform to promote the FIFA Global Citizen Education Fund, an initiative aiming to raise $100 million to expand education and access to soccer for children worldwide. Viewers were invited to support the fund’s stated mission of harnessing “the power of love” to fight poverty and defend the planet.
The halftime spectacle had a clear aim: a feel-good, apolitical procession of global pop culture designed for mass appeal. That positioning took on extra resonance in a stadium attended by high-profile political figures, where buoyant images of unity, color and children singing alongside international stars read as intentionally uplifting — and, for some viewers, pointedly symbolic.
Whether judged on logistics, star power or sheer spectacle, FIFA succeeded in staging a first: a halftime show for a World Cup final that felt unmistakably global, equal parts concert, variety show and charity push.
