FIFA World Cup Final Features First Halftime Show with Madonna, BTS, Justin Bieber and Shakira

An 11-minute halftime show opened the FIFA World Cup final at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey on Sunday, bringing together pop, K-pop and orchestral performers. Madonna began the program with a pre-recorded segment filmed in the stadium tunnels, followed by a live rendition of a re-worked version of her 2000 single “Music.” Conductor Gustavo Dudamel then led musicians from the New York Philharmonic and Venezuela’s Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra in a performance of “Seven Nation Army,” accompanied by Iranian violinist Bijan Mortazavi and a cameo by the Muppets’ Electric Mayhem band.

BTS performed a football-themed version of “Dynamite,” and actors Jason Sudeikis and Brendan Hunt appeared in character as Ted Lasso and Coach Beard to introduce Justin Bieber. Bieber sang “Everything Hallelujah,” after which Shakira and Burna Boy performed the official World Cup song “Dai Dai” with Uganda’s Ghetto Kids. The finale included schoolchildren from Staten Island’s PS22, Coldplay, additional Muppets, and Australian singer-songwriter Emmanuel Kelly, who debuted an original track written for the event.

The halftime program was curated by Coldplay’s Chris Martin and produced by Global Citizen, which seeks to raise $100 million for its FIFA Global Citizen Education Fund, allocating $1 from each World Cup ticket to the cause. The show was produced by Live Nation and Done + Dusted; executive producer Guy Carrington said the team spent months preparing the performance while maintaining a tight schedule to avoid delaying the match.

Pre-show entertainment featured Post Malone, who performed new and previously released songs, and iShowSpeed, who delivered a brief on-stage message. Prior to kickoff, Nicole Scherzinger, Laura Pausini and Robbie Williams performed the FIFA anthem, and Jennifer Hudson sang the U.S. national anthem. The event was attended by a full stadium of roughly 80,000 spectators, including public figures and celebrities.

"This was always about bringing together the world’s top performers and creating a real moment of collaboration and unity," Carrington told THR.

The halftime show concluded as the match resumed, with the field protected by a temporary tarp and post-performance maintenance.