Madonna, Shakira and Justin Bieber to headline half-time show at tonight's World Cup final

MADONNA, SHAKIRA, JUSTIN Bieber will co-headline tonight’s first ever half-time show at a World Cup final.

Spectators can also expect to see South Korean boy band BTS, Nigerian artist Burna Boy, Venezuelan conductor Gustavo Dudamel, the PS 22 Chorus and Coldplay perform during the match’s interval.

The interval will last around 11 minutes at the MetLife Stadium tonight, which Fifa have said will bring “football, music and social impact together in the first-ever Fifa World Cup final half-time show”.

However, it has been reported that the half-time show will mean the gap between the first and second half of the match will be well in excess of the 15 minutes set down in the sport’s laws.

Some observers have criticised the move, but Michael Gietzen, the chief executive of Identity, told the Press Association: “FIFA is right to extend half-time and the people complaining are missing the point.”

“Football has its own rhythm and its own rules and of course that matters. But a World Cup final isn’t ‘most of the time’.

“It happens once every four years, in front of the biggest audience any single sporting event can pull. Treating it like a normal weekend fixture is the mistake, not the half-time show.”

He said a good half-time show isn’t a distraction from the football, but it is part of the reason people remember exactly where they were when they watched it.

“A few extra minutes to get that right isn’t a compromise, it’s FIFA recognising that the final is a cultural event as much as a sporting one,” he said.

Raising money in the process

The half-time show will support its Global Citizen Education Fund, an initiative aiming to raise ¢100 million “to expand access to quality education and football opportunities for children worldwide”.

“When it comes to what the world needs, there is nothing more important than education,” Fifa president Gianni Infantino said.

“We are proud to have Justin Bieber joining Madonna, Shakira and BTS to co-headline the FIFA World Cup 2026 final half-time show in support of the FIFA Global Citizen Education Fund and our mission to expand access to quality education and football opportunities for children around the world.”

Infantino added: “As the world unites for the most significant football match in history on Sunday, 19 July at the New York New Jersey Stadium, this groundbreaking spectacle, curated by Chris Martin of Coldplay, will celebrate football, music and our shared values, ensuring a legacy that transcends the final whistle.”

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