Justin Bieber enters the historic halftime show of the 2026 World Cup final
The FIFA World Cup 2026 final will get the first official halftime show in the history of the competition’s final matches, and FIFA and Global Citizen announced on July 8, 2026, that Justin Bieber is joining Madonna, Shakira and BTS as one of the main performers. The performance is scheduled for Sunday, July 19, at New York New Jersey Stadium in East Rutherford, in the state of New Jersey, where the final match of the tournament will also be played.
In its announcement, FIFA stated that football, music and social impact will come together for the first time in an official program at halftime of the World Cup final. This is a change that brings the conclusion of the most-watched football tournament closer to the model of major sporting events in which entertainment programming has a separate global reach. According to FIFA, the show will last 11 minutes and will be broadcast live to an international audience, meaning that the musical part of the program will take place in one of the most-watched television slots in sport. The organizers are presenting it as a historic addition to the final, but also as a platform for raising funds and visibility for educational projects aimed at children. In this way, the conclusion of the tournament, in addition to its sporting climax, also gains a clearly defined humanitarian message.
Bieber joins a global lineup of performers
According to the statement by FIFA and Global Citizen, Justin Bieber is now part of the main lineup in which Madonna, Shakira and the South Korean group BTS had already been announced. FIFA announced that Nigerian musician Burna Boy, Venezuelan conductor Gustavo Dudamel, PS22 Chorus with Coldplay, and characters from the programs Sesame Street and The Muppets will also take part in the program. Such a selection of performers shows that the organizers are not targeting only the traditional football audience, but a broad international audience that includes different generations, musical genres and cultural spaces. Bieber’s inclusion further strengthens the pop dimension of the event because he is a performer with a large global listener base and visibility on digital platforms. FIFA presented his arrival as a continuation of the idea that the final should be a meeting point of sport, entertainment and a shared message about education.
In FIFA’s announcement, Bieber said that the World Cup brings the world together in a way that few events can match and that he is grateful to take part in a show that is already helping expand access to education for children. FIFA President Gianni Infantino emphasized in the same announcement that Bieber, Madonna, Shakira and BTS will perform in support of the FIFA Global Citizen Education Fund, a fund focused on quality education and football opportunities for children around the world. Burna Boy, according to the same announcement, pointed out that performing at the first halftime show of the World Cup final means both a privilege and a responsibility for him in representing Africa. In this way, the organizers are trying to avoid the impression that this is merely an entertainment addition to the match and are linking it to a broader social purpose. In that context, the choice of performers becomes part of the communication about the tournament’s global reach.
Chris Martin as curator and production in the hands of Global Citizen
The musical program is curated by Chris Martin, co-founder and frontman of Coldplay, and FIFA previously announced that the show is being produced in cooperation with the organization Global Citizen. A statement from May 2026 said that Madonna, Shakira and BTS would be the headliners of the first such program in a World Cup final, while the July announcement expanded the lineup with Justin Bieber and additional participants. Global Citizen, according to its own information, is delivering the program in partnership with Live Nation and the production company Done + Dusted, which points to the ambition for the performance to be technically and televisually shaped for a global broadcast. In the announcement film, according to FIFA, Chris Martin described the program as an event dedicated to togetherness and open to everyone. That message corresponds to the way FIFA and Global Citizen have been presenting the project in recent months: as a combination of a stadium spectacle, popular culture and a campaign for education.
The inclusion of Coldplay through PS22 Chorus further connects the program with Martin’s role as curator, but also with the idea of children’s education that runs through the entire project. PS22 Chorus, a school choir from New York, will perform with Coldplay according to FIFA, thereby introducing a local educational element into the show, but without narrowing the message to one country or one audience. Gustavo Dudamel, whom FIFA describes as an internationally recognized Venezuelan conductor and the music and artistic director of the New York Philharmonic, brings a classical and orchestral dimension to the program. Burna Boy, meanwhile, is also performing as part of the broader story around the song “Dai Dai”, which FIFA lists as the official song of the 2026 tournament and which he performs with Shakira. In this way, the halftime program encompasses pop, K-pop, Latin pop, afrobeats, choral and orchestral performance, a format never before seen for a World Cup final.
The humanitarian dimension through the FIFA Global Citizen Education Fund
The central social element of the show is the FIFA Global Citizen Education Fund, an initiative that, according to Global Citizen, aims to raise more than 100 million US dollars by the 2026 World Cup final to expand access to quality education and football programs for children. FIFA announced on July 8 that more than 50 million US dollars had already been raised and that this amount includes a donation of one US dollar from every ticket sold for 2026 World Cup matches. In earlier announcements, FIFA stated that the fund is connected with programs that should support education and social projects around the world, while Global Citizen points out that part of the funds will be directed toward grassroots organizations and the Football for Schools program. The goal, according to the fund’s description, is to connect education, sport and local work with children in communities that lack access to quality educational opportunities. For that reason, the halftime show is presented not only as an entertainment addition, but as a visible moment in a campaign that is trying to use the tournament’s global attention to raise funds.
In May 2026, Global Citizen also announced the first group of organizations receiving support from the fund. According to that announcement, these are 27 grassroots organizations in ten countries, selected through a competitive process focused on impact, innovation and the possibility of expanding programs. The same source states that grants range from 50,000 to 250,000 US dollars and are intended for projects that expand access to learning, strengthen education systems and create safer spaces for children. Among the examples described are programs that use sport, creative education, technology and community work to improve children’s participation in education and encourage life skills. In Global Citizen’s articles and announcements, it is emphasized that the fund does not aim to be a one-time campaign tied only to the final, but a longer-term support mechanism for organizations that are already working with children on the ground.
The final of the biggest World Cup so far
The final on July 19 will mark the conclusion of the 23rd edition of the FIFA World Cup, the first to be held with 48 national teams and in three host countries: Canada, Mexico and the United States of America. FIFA’s data on the tournament format states that the competition has expanded to 104 matches, with an additional knockout round, making it the biggest World Cup in history. According to the official schedule, the tournament began on June 11 in Mexico City, and the final will be played at New York New Jersey Stadium, the official tournament name for the stadium in East Rutherford. FIFA’s stadium page lists a capacity of 80,663 seats and notes that it is a multi-purpose venue opened in 2010. The same description states that over the years the stadium has hosted major sporting events and concerts, which makes it a logical choice for a finale that now also includes an extensive musical segment.
New York New Jersey Stadium has a particularly important role during the tournament because, according to FIFA’s information about the host city, a total of eight matches are being played there, including the final. The decision to connect the final match specifically with the first official halftime show shows how FIFA is trying to change the way the conclusion of a football competition is packaged globally. In football tradition, halftime of the final was mainly a time for the teams, coaching staffs and spectators to rest, while major entertainment productions were more commonly associated with other sporting spectacles. FIFA is now introducing a format that is strong for television, but at the same time it will have to be aligned with the rhythm of the match, the demands of the pitch and the sporting concentration of the finalists. It is precisely that balance between performance and sporting integrity that will be one of the elements by which the success of this precedent will be judged.
Children’s programs as a symbol of the message about learning
The participation of characters from Sesame Street and The Muppets is especially connected to the fund’s educational goals. FIFA stated that these characters have been associated with learning through play for generations and that their inclusion further emphasizes the purpose of the halftime show. In the context of the World Cup final, this is an unusual programming move because popular children’s content is being introduced into an environment usually dominated by sport, national teams, fan choreographies and commercial television broadcasting. In this way, the organizers are trying to open space for family and educational symbolism, but also to connect the fund’s main message with recognizable global characters. Such an approach can help make the topic of education understandable to audiences of different languages and age groups, especially in a program that will take place within a very limited time.
At the same time, this concept also carries production challenges. In just 11 minutes, it is necessary to present a large number of performers, maintain the rhythm of a stadium performance, enable an attractive television broadcast and, at the same time, not push the match itself into the background. FIFA and Global Citizen are therefore announcing the show through the idea of togetherness, not as a separate concert. This is an important difference because the World Cup final remains above all a sporting event, with national teams competing for the most important trophy in international football. The halftime show can broaden the reach of the final, but its acceptance will depend on whether it is perceived as a meaningful addition rather than an interruption of the traditional football rhythm.
A broader signal of change in the way football is presented
The announcement of Bieber’s arrival is only the latest step in the transformation of the 2026 World Cup final into a cultural event that goes beyond the 90 minutes of play itself. FIFA has long emphasized that the tournament in Canada, Mexico and the United States of America has an expanded format, greater geographical reach and a stronger entertainment framework than previous editions. The halftime show in the final may open a discussion about whether future World Cups will also receive similar programs or whether this is a particular feature of an edition held in a market with a long tradition of major stadium shows. For now, it has been confirmed that this program is the first official performance of its kind in a FIFA World Cup final, and its staging on July 19 will be an important test for future decisions. If the organizers manage to align the sporting and musical parts of the evening, the final in East Rutherford could become a reference point for future discussions about how football combines competition, entertainment and social impact.
For viewers around the world, the conclusion will therefore have a dual focus: the question of who will win the world champion title and what the first official halftime show in the history of the tournament final will look like. FIFA and Global Citizen emphasize in their announcements that they are directing revenue and attention toward children’s education, while the choice of performers shows the ambition to expand the reach of the match beyond the standard sports audience. Justin Bieber, Madonna, Shakira and BTS represent different musical and generational audiences, while the participation of Burna Boy, Gustavo Dudamel, Coldplay, PS22 Chorus and children’s characters further broadens the symbolic framework. Ultimately, the sporting result will remain the center of the evening, but the halftime program already shows how the 2026 World Cup final is becoming an event in which football tradition meets global pop culture and a humanitarian campaign.
Sources:
- FIFA – announcement of July 8, 2026, about the inclusion of Justin Bieber, additional performers, the duration of the show and the amount of funds raised (link)
- FIFA – announcement about Madonna, Shakira and BTS as the first announced main performers and about the role of Chris Martin and Global Citizen (link)
- FIFA – official schedule and information about the 2026 World Cup format and the July 19 final at New York New Jersey Stadium (link)
- FIFA – information about New York New Jersey Stadium, its location, capacity and role in the tournament’s finale (link)
- Global Citizen – description of the goals of the FIFA Global Citizen Education Fund and the way educational and football programs for children are financed (link)
- Global Citizen – data on the first group of grant recipients, the number of organizations, countries and grant ranges (link)