The landmark 11-minute performance, curated by Coldplay’s Chris Martin, united some of the world’s biggest music stars during the FIFA World Cup Final
Credit: Lars Baron/Getty
NEED TO KNOW
- The 2026 FIFA World Cup Final featured its first-ever halftime show curated by Coldplay’s Chris Martin
- Shakira, Madonna, BTS, and Justin Bieber performed to support the FIFA Global Citizen Education Fund
- Post Malone and other stars kicked off the event during the closing ceremony before the championship match
The FIFA World Cup 2026 Final got a Super Bowl-style spectacle for the first time ever.
On Sunday, July 19, FIFA debuted its inaugural World Cup Final halftime show, bringing together an all-star lineup that includes Shakira, Madonna, BTS and Justin Bieber for an 11-minute performance at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J. The historic show, curated by Coldplay frontman Chris Martin, aired live during the championship match.
The halftime show marks a major first for the tournament, which has never featured a musical performance during the World Cup Final. It also serves a larger purpose, supporting the FIFA Global Citizen Education Fund, which aims to expand access to education and sports programs for children in underserved communities around the world.
The halftime show began in bright color as Madonna, 67, took the stage to perform her 2000 hit “Music,” with elements of “Disco Inferno” and “Danceteria” and get the crowd going. She walked onto the field accompanied by Brazilian soccer legends Ronaldinho and Ronaldo, before handing the mic over to none other than Muppet band Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem, who performed The White Stripes’ iconic “Seven Nation Army.”
Credit: Michael Regan – FIFA/FIFA via Getty
BTS then took over the halftime show, performing their hit “Dynamite” to the cheering crowd. After the K-Pop band danced across the New York New Jersey Stadium field, none other than Ted Lasso (aka Jason Sudekis) and his assistant Coach Beard (played by Brendan Hunt).
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As Ted and Coach Beard walked the field, they called in a substitute — Bieber, 32, who stripped the show down to acoustics as he played his hit “Everything Hallelujah” from his 2025 album Swag II on guitar.
Credit: Tom Weller/picture alliance via Getty
Then, of course, he handed off the mic to World Cup queen Shakira and Burna Boy, who performed “Dai Dai,” the official song of the 2026 World Cup. It was all capped off with the PS22 Chorus, made up of over 50 fifth graders from PS22 in Staten Island, who sang “We Dance,” an original song by Coldplay for the show. The kids performed with Coldplay, the Muppets and Emmanuel Kelly.
Credit: Justin Setterfield/Getty
While anticipation had been building for weeks, even one of the show’s biggest stars admitted she didn’t know exactly what fans should expect.
“It’s going to be a shared halftime show,” Shakira previously said during an appearance on The Capital Evening Show with Jimmy Hill that aired Wednesday, July 8. “It’s going to be pretty historic, five amazing artists. Well, four amazing artists plus me.”
“I played at the inauguration, and now I’m playing at the final,” she added said, referring to her performance at the tournament’s opening ceremony. “I’ve got to wrap my head around it, make it a little different from what I did at the inauguration.”
The “Whenever, Wherever” hitmaker also revealed that the performance was still coming together in the days leading up to the final.
“We’ll all get together and we’ll all figure it out how it’s gonna be, but I’m really curious,” Shakira said. “I’m as curious as you are right now!”
Ahead of halftime, the World Cup Final’s closing ceremony kicked off the day’s festivities with a performance by Post Malone, joined by Tom Cruise, Jennifer Hudson, Laura Pausini, Nicole Scherzinger, Robbie Williams and IShowSpeed.
Between the halftime show and FIFA’s pledge to donate $1 from every ticket sold to all 104 World Cup matches in the 2026 tournament, the FIFA Global Citizen Education Fund has already raised $60 million. On Thursday, Global Citizen and FIFA announced the 31 grantees, in 18 different countries, who will receive grants from the fund to continue their community-based work providing education and sports access for children.
The first-ever FIFA World Cup 2026 Final halftime show aired live during the championship match on Sunday, July 19, from MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J. Kickoff at 3 p.m. ET.
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