Shakira, Madonna and BTS will headline the first halftime show at a World Cup final, FIFA announced early Thursday morning, in a meshing of Latin, pop and Korean music that reflects the global reach of soccer fans.
The World Cup final, which is scheduled for July 19 at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, is already a quadrennial spectacle that in 2022 drew more than 500 million live viewers. But the introduction of a musical performance could attract even more casual spectators.
Madonna has won seven Grammy Awards and Shakira has won four, while BTS was the first K-pop group to receive a Grammy nomination.
This year’s halftime show artists were selected by Chris Martin, the lead singer of Coldplay, and will be produced by Global Citizen, a nonprofit organization that puts on large-scale musical concerts to spotlight charitable issues like hunger and poverty.
FIFA and Global Citizen conducted a trial run at MetLife Stadium last summer with a halftime show at the final of the FIFA Club World Cup, featuring the American rapper Doja Cat, the Nigerian singer Tems and the Colombian artist J Balvin. The performers sang from a stage that was woven into the stands.
The World Cup begins next month and will take place across 16 cities in the United States, Mexico and Canada, with games airing in the United States on Fox and Telemundo.
This month, Shakira released the official World Cup song, “Dai Dai,” which features the Afrobeats star Burna Boy. She performed in the opening ceremony of the World Cup in South Africa in 2010, and in 2020 she was the co-headliner of the Super Bowl halftime show with Jennifer Lopez.
Major musical performances during sports events are not new to American fans. Super Bowl halftime shows, with stars like Bad Bunny, Kendrick Lamar and Rihanna, routinely draw more than 100 million broadcast viewers in America and drive conversations before and after the performance.
This month, FIFA announced the lineups for the opening ceremony ahead of the first game played in each of the three host countries. In the United States, the musicians who will perform before a June 12 matchup at SoFi Stadium near Los Angeles include Katy Perry, Future, Anitta, Lisa, Rema and Tyla.
Devoted soccer fans, however, do not need extra festivities to generate excitement, and the introduction of a halftime show could bring a clash with purists.
“Generally, the perception is the 15-minute halftime is sacrosanct — you don’t mess with it,” said Sean Jacobs, a professor of international affairs at the New School in Manhattan. “The link between entertainment and sports, if you grew up in the United States, that’s what you’re used to, but you don’t have to convince people to love football in Africa, in Europe or in Asia or South America.”
