Madonna, Shakira, Justin Bieber, BTS, Burna Boy, composer Gustavo Dudamel, the Muppets and so many more. All in 11 minutes. Soccer usually doesn’t have halftime shows, but the 2025 FIFA World Cup final was different: Somehow, FIFA and Global Citizen packed in a lineup of names that took almost as long to read as they did to perform, all while Spain and Argentina were locked at 0-0, reorganizing and strategizing in the halftime locker rooms.
The halftime show began with a two-song performance by Madonna, who rode through New York New Jersey Stadium’s underground tunnels in a golf cart driven by Brazilian football legends Ronaldo and Ronaldinho while blazing through a new version of her 2000 hit “Music” and her recent single “Danceteria,” from the fresh release Confessions II.
Madonna’s performance gave way to a rendition of the stadium-classic banger “Seven Nation Army” performed by conductor Gustavo Dudamel and an orchestra made up of parts of the New York Philharmonic, the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela and Iranian violinist Bijan Mortazavi. Oh, and the Muppets’ house band The Electric Mayhem.
If that wasn’t enough to keep up with, Rolling Stone‘s recent cover stars BTS came out, performing a few seconds of their hit “Dynamite,” an understandably brief cameo considering they’d been in Paris less than 24 hours before.
The most overt nod to American soccer culture came right after, when actor Jason Sudeikis came onto the pitch in character as Coach Ted Lasso, with his trusty deputy Coach Beard (Brendan Hunt) by his side, in order to give a pep talk to Justin Bieber.
Bieber then performed a rendition of his “Everything Hallelujah”:
Bieber’s performance follows his headlining set at Coachella in April, and gave way to a rendition of the official song of the tournament, “Dai Dai,” by Shakira and Burna Boy.
The whirlwind performance closed with a unifying moment: The PS 22 Chorus — a choir comprising fourth and fifth graders from a public elementary school in Staten Island — performing a song written by Coldplay called “We Dance,” with frontman Chris Martin joining in:
As Argentinian sportscaster shouted “GOLLLLL,” fireworks exploded from the stadium’s outer rim. And in a blink, it was over. The field covering was rushed off by an army of ant-like volunteers. The smoke slowly cleared. The sprinklers came back on to water down the pitch. And almost immediately, the other set of stars were back on the grass.
Shakira, who performed “Dai Dai” with Burna Boy during the World Cup opening ceremony in Mexico City, shared her joy over having Uganda’s the Ghetto Kids “dance with me at the World Cup final” in a post on Instagram prior to the final game.
The halftime show is set to benefit FIFA Global Citizen Education Fund, which is looking to raise $100 million to provide children worldwide expanded access to education and football. It has already raised more than half that amount and continues to head toward its goal with $1 from every ticket sold for matches being donated throughout the tournament.
Ahead of the World Cup’s first-ever halftime show and the start of the game, a pregame ceremony was held featuring headliner Post Malone. Laura Pausini, Nicole Scherzinger, IShowSpeed, and Robbie Williams also performed, and Tom Cruise made a special appearance. Jennifer Hudson also performed the U.S. national anthem.
The final game’s musical performances capped off a tournament filled with memorable musical moments. Last weekend, Ellie Goulding performed the halftime at quarterfinal game between England and Norway. And in addition to Shakira and Burna Boy’s aforementioned Mexico City set, Katy Perry and 10-year-old Norwegian singer Tius Luka performed “Wonder” at the 2026 World Cup opening match between the United States and Paraguay in Los Angeles on June 12, preceded by Future and Tyla’s high voltage performance of “Game Time.” They were followed by Lisa of Blackpink, Brazilian icon Anitta, and Nigerian superstar Rema, who delivered “Goals.” That same day, Canada’s opening ceremony featured performances from Michael Buble, Alanis Morissette, Alessia Cara, Eliana, Jessie Reyes, Noah Fatehi, Sanjoy, Vegedream, and William Prince.
