The World Cup Final Is Getting Its First Super Bowl Style Half Time Show

Football has spent decades being the one global sport that did not need a pop concert in the middle of its biggest game. The World Cup final was already enough. Ninety minutes, two teams, a trophy, a few billion nerves and no need for dancers running across the pitch while someone changes costume inside a smoke machine.

That changes this summer.

FIFA Is Going Full Super Bowl

For the first time, the World Cup final will have a proper half time show, with Shakira, Madonna and BTS set to headline at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey on 19 July. It is the most American thing FIFA could have added to football’s biggest match, and also probably the only lineup big enough to make the idea feel unavoidable.

The scale is ridiculous. The previous World Cup final drew more than 500 million live viewers, and this year’s tournament is already the biggest ever, with 48 teams playing across the United States, Mexico and Canada.

Add Madonna, Shakira and BTS to the middle of the final, and FIFA is clearly not just chasing football fans anymore. It wants casual viewers, pop fans, the BTS Army, Shakira loyalists and anyone who normally only turns up for the Super Bowl commercials.

The Lineup Is Almost Too Big To Argue With

The lineup is almost comically global. Shakira has become part of World Cup furniture at this point, with Waka Waka still living rent-free in football history, and her new tournament song Dai Dai features Nigerian star Burna Boy.

Madonna brings the Super Bowl experience, actual pop royalty and a new album arriving in July. BTS bring the kind of fanbase that can turn a song preview into an international incident before breakfast.

Coldplay’s Chris Martin is curating the show, while Global Citizen will produce it in support of a fund aiming to raise $100 million USD for children worldwide.

FIFA already tested the idea at last year’s Club World Cup final, also at MetLife Stadium, with Doja Cat, Tems and J Balvin. That show apparently pushed the break beyond the usual football comfort zone, which is exactly where the complaints will start.

Football traditionalists will hate this. They will say half time is for tactical changes, orange slices and arguing about the referee, not a mini concert with global pop stars. They are not entirely wrong.

But FIFA has clearly seen the Super Bowl model and decided football’s biggest game can be even bigger. The World Cup final is no longer just getting a winner. It is getting a star-studded act.