BTS, Madonna, Shakira and More Set for the 2026 World Cup Music Lineup

The 2026 World Cup is shaping up to be as much a global pop spectacle as a soccer tournament, with BTS, Madonna, Shakira and a slate of other stars attached to performances across FIFA’s biggest stage.

Global Citizen said Thursday, May 14, that BTS and Madonna will join Shakira at the final on July 19 at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J. The show, curated by Chris Martin of Coldplay, will make history as the first halftime-style program ever staged at a World Cup final.

“This will be a historic moment for the FIFA World Cup and a show befitting the biggest sporting event in the world,” FIFA president Gianni Infantino wrote on Instagram in March last year, when the halftime expansion was first announced.

That final is only the marquee moment. The tournament begins June 11 and runs through the championship game, and the opening ceremonies are set to carry their own load of star power across multiple host cities. Katy Perry and Future are scheduled to perform at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles on June 12, just before the U.S. meets Paraguay, while Michael Bublé and Alanis Morissette will play before Canada faces Bosnia and Herzegovina in Toronto the same day.

LISA, Anitta, J Balvin, Danny Ocean and others are also included on the wider lineup, stretching the event’s music programming well beyond the final itself. The result is a World Cup calendar that looks designed to travel as much as the teams do, bringing in acts from different corners of pop, Latin music and K-pop. Which performance are you most looking forward to seeing?

BTS perform at the GNP Seguros Stadium as part of their ARIRANG Tour, on May 7, 2025, in Mexico City.

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