Shakira, Madonna and BTS will not be paid for World Cup final half-time show

The final will mark the first time that musical artists have performed at FIFA’s showcase event Joaquin Sarmiento / AFP via Getty Images Share article2Shakira, Madonna and BTS are not being paid to headline the half-time show during the men’s World Cup final in the United States this summer. It will be the first time in the tournament’s history that musical artists are performing at FIFA’s showcase event, which will take place at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey on July 19. On Thursday, the governing body announced via a video posted on Instagram that Colombian singer Shakira, American artist Madonna and BTS, a South Korean boyband, will headline the half-time show. Chris Martin, the lead singer of Coldplay, has curated the line-up and it is being produced by Global Citizen. Global Citizen sources, speaking on the condition of anonymity to protect relationships, have confirmed to The Athletic that Shakira, Madonna and BTS will not be receiving a performance fee and are instead donating their time to the social justice organization. This is similar to what occurs in the NFL’s flagship Super Bowl event where the half-time acts — Bad Bunny performed in February, for example — are not paid either, instead recognising the exposure singing at the most-watched annual TV programme in the United States brings. FIFA and representatives for the music acts have been approached by The Athletic, but did not comment prior to publication. This year’s Super Bowl, which was won by the Seattle Seahawks, drew a domestic audience of 125.6million people, according to Nielsen, with Bad Bunny’s performance lasting 13 minutes. Kendrick Lamar, the Super Bowl’s headline act in 2025, also performed for 13 minutes. In contrast, FIFA has previously announced that the men’s Qatar World Cup final between Argentina and France in 2022 had a “total reach” of 1.42billion viewers globally. Earlier this week, The Athletic detailed how FIFA, soccer’s governing body, had drafted plans to use the field at MetLife Stadium for the half-time show, which will result in the interval lasting significantly beyond the usual 15-minute break. FIFA has yet to confirm how long the interval will be, although the combined performances from Madonna, BTS and Shakira is expected to last for 11 minutes. Shakira has an existing relationship with FIFA and previously sang “Waka Waka (This Time For Africa)”, the official World Cup song for the 2010 tournament in South Africa, and last week announced her official 2026 World Cup song “Dai Dai”, in collaboration with Burna Boy. Although this will be the first time FIFA has held a half-time show at the World Cup, they did have one at last summer’s Club World Cup final at MetLife. Tems, J Balvin and Doja Cat all performed during the half-time break between Paris Saint-Germain and Chelsea, but they did so on a stage high up in the stands as opposed to on the field to avoid impacting the playing surface. Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms