MADONNA, SHAKIRA AND BTS ANNOUNCED AS CO-HEADLINERS FOR FIRST EVER HALFTIME SHOW AT THE 2026 WORLD CUP FINAL

The 2026 World Cup final will take place on Sunday, July 19, at the MetLife Stadium in New Jersey

Shakira, BTS and Madonna.
Credit : Kevin Mazur/Getty; Todd Owyoung/NBC via Getty; Marc Nader/ZUMA Wire/Shutterstock

The 2026 World Cup final is going to have some global superstars headlining its first ever halftime show.

On Wednesday, May 13, the official FIFA World Cup Instagram account announced that Madonna, Shakira and BTS will be performing at the final in July. 

“On July 19, the FIFA World Cup 2026 Final Halftime Show is coming to New York New Jersey Stadium, featuring superstars@madonna ,@shakira , and@bts.bighitofficial , curated by@coldplay ‘s Chris Martin!” the post read.

The tournament’s final will be held at the MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, with the match kicking off at 3 p.m. ET. 

Madonna performs at Coachella 2026.
Kevin Mazur/Getty

The post added, “A FIFA World Cup first, the Halftime Show supports the FIFA Global Citizen Education Fund, a landmark initiative working to raise $100 USD million to expand access to quality education and football for children around the world. Throughout the tournament, USD 1 from every ticket sold to FIFA World Cup 2026 matches will be donated to the Fund.”

Coldplay frontman Chris Martin also shared the news in an Instagram video featuring BTS on FaceTime, along with the help of Sesame Street’s Elmo and Muppets characters Kermit, Miss Piggy, Animal, the Cookie Monster and Statler and Waldorf. 

This will be the first time a halftime show has taken place during a World Cup final.

The news comes after Madonna announced her new album Confessions II last month and made a surprise appearance at Coachella during Sabrina Carpenter's headlining set. The Queen of Pop’s new record, a sequel to her 2005 hit album Confessions on a Dancefloor, will be released on July 3.

The 2026 World Cup, which is being jointly hosted by the U.S., Canada and Mexico and features 48 teams, begins on June 11 when Mexico take on South Africa. 

Earlier this month, the likes of Katy Perry, J Balvin, Future, Michael Bublé, Tyla and Lisa were announced to be among those performing at the three opening ceremonies of the soccer tournament.

Shakira performing in New York City in September 2025.
Theo Wargo/Getty 

While Perry will headline the U.S. opening ceremony on June 12 at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles, J Blavin will headline the opening ceremony in Mexico City and Bublé, Alanis Morissette and Alessia Cara will co-headline in Toronto.

According to Variety, the soccer World Cup Finals are the most-watched annual sporting event, with the 2022 final drawing in more than 500 million live viewers.

- Kirsty Hatcher

BAD BUNNY'S 2026 SUPER BOWL HALFTIME SHOW IS ALREADY BRINGING OUT THE RACISTS

Photo/Shutterstock

Bad Bunny is coming! On September 28, during halftime for Sunday Night Football, the NFL and Roc Nation announced that the Debí Tirar Más Fotos musician will headline the Apple Music Super Bowl LX Halftime Show, which will take place on February 8 at the Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, California.

Bad Bunny has performed at the Super Bowl once before, previously making a cameo during Jennifer Lopez and Shakira's Halftime Show in 2020 — but he'll be the headline performer for the first time ever for the 2026 event. “@badbunnypr is bringing Puerto Rico to the world’s biggest stage,” the official Apple Music account shared on Instagram.

“What I’m feeling goes beyond myself,” the Puerto Rican singer, whose given name is Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, shared in a statement. “It’s for those who came before me and ran countless yards so I could come in and score a touchdown… this is for my people, my culture and our history. Ve y dile a tu abuela, que seremos el HALFTIME SHOW DEL SUPER BOWL.”

The 2025 Halftime Show, which was headlined by Kendrick Lamar, was watched by over 133 million viewers — higher than the viewership of the actual game itself. Fans of the the global superstar are thrilled to see Benito take on one of the world's biggest stages. But some people are less than excited about the 2026 performer, and took to social media to spout racist backlash, criticizing the musician's political stance and the fact that most of his music is in Spanish, not English.

“Football is an AMERICAN game, we’ve been trying to kick out illegals for YEARS. This will just bring them in,” one xenophobe wrote in the volatile comments section of Bad Bunny's Instagram collab announcement post with the NFL, Roc Nation, and Apple Music. “Will there be subtitles? Asking for 90% of the country,” wrote another Instagram user.

But for every racist or xenophobic comment on Instagram about Bad Bunny's global fan base, there were hundreds more praising the decision. “I hope he doesn’t utter a single word of English the entire show! LET’S GO, BAD BUNNY!” commented one fan. “The racism in this comment section is wild. Way too normalized. Bad Bunny is one of the top 3 most famous artists in this damn world. Yall can zip it,” chimed in another. (It's true: Bad Bunny has been ranked as one of the top three most-streamed artists on Spotify since 2019 and was the most-streamed artist from 2020 to 2022.)

The criticism continued on X, however, with conservative pundits accusing the NFL of “self-destructing” and making “the Super Bowl political," referencing Ocasio's previous comments about ICE and President Donald Trump; ICYMI, Bad Bunny chose not to tour in the United States after the release of Debí Tirar Más Fotos because of ongoing ICE raids.

“There were many reasons why I didn’t show up in the US, and none of them were out of hate—I’ve performed there many times,” he explained to i-D magazine earlier this month. “All of [the shows] have been successful. All of them have been magnificent. I’ve enjoyed connecting with Latinos who have been living in the U.S."

“But specifically, for a residency here in Puerto Rico, when we are an unincorporated territory of the U.S.,” Ocasio continued, "People from the U.S. could come here to see the show. Latinos and Puerto Ricans of the United States could also travel here, or to any part of the world. But there was the issue of like, f*cking ICE could be outside [my concert]. And it’s something that we were talking about and very concerned about.”

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