Madonna, BTS, Justin Bieber and Shakira headlined the first-ever FIFA World Cup semifinals show on Sunday, playing a massive 11-minute medley that also featured Burna Boy, Gustavo Dudamel of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra and The Muppets.
Madonna kicked off the show, cruising through the tunnels of the New York-New Jersey Stadium in a dune buggy, appropriately driven by famous Brazilian soccer players Ronaldo and Ronaldinho, in a pre-recorded clip. The pop star appeared on screen singing a new version of her 2000 hit “Music”, mixed with elements of “Disco Inferno” and “Danceteria”, before appearing on the field and handing the baton to conductor Gustavo Dudamel.
He led musicians from the New York Philharmonic Orchestra and the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela in a performance of “Seven Nation Army” with Iranian violinist Bijan Mortazavi and the rock group The Muppets Electric Mayhem, in one of several puppet shows.
K-pop stars BTS took to the pitch with a soccer-inspired performance of their hit song “Dynamite,” with a video intro of the Norwegian rowing anthem and rewritten lyrics for the halftime show. Jason Sudeikis and Brendan Hunt then appeared on the court as Ted Lasso and Coach Bird from their Apple TV series, cheering on Justin Bieber before he took to the court to the cheers of the crowd.
Bieber then turned down the volume with an emotional rendition of his 2025 hit “Everything Hallelujah”, before handing it over to Shakira and Burna Boy, who brought the noise back, in the highlight of the halftime show, performing the official FIFA World Cup song “Dai Dai”, alongside Ugandan ghetto kids, dancing in a sea of yellow costumes. Off camera, a group of schoolchildren wearing rainbow T-shirts sneak onto the field to prepare for the finale.
The schoolchildren, from Staten Island’s PS22, were joined by Coldplay, more Muppets and Australian singer-songwriter Emmanuel Kelly, who premiered “We Dance,” an original song written by Coldplay for the halftime show. The stadium, which was covered with a rainbow-colored fabric to protect the grass, was filled with dancers carrying colorful balls, while fans in the stadium waved colorful flags located in all the seats.
The halftime programs were organized by Coldplay’s Chris Martin and produced by Global Citizen, which aims to raise $100 million for the FIFA Global Citizen Education Fund, with $1 from every ticket throughout the World Cup donated to the fund.
New Jersey’s 80,000-seat stadium was packed with a few empty seats amid a sea of red, white and blue for the final between Spain and Argentina. President Trump was among the confirmed attendees, with celebrities including Pharrell, Matt Damon, Adrien Brody and Will Ferrell also spotted in the crowd. While Shakira attracted big cheers, as did Bieber’s appearance, those cheers paled in comparison to the whoops and cheers from the crowd throughout the exciting finale.
The show marked Bieber’s first public performance since his much-discussed appearance at Coachella in April, and came on the heels of Madonna’s new pop album. Confessions II And amid the Arirang world tour of the Korean pop band BTS, which returns to touring after the band members took a three-year hiatus to complete their mandatory military service. BTS arrived in New York this morning after performing last night at the Stade de France in Paris.
Live Nation and Done + Dusted also served as producers on the show. In a pre-show interview, executive producer Jay Carrington of Done+Dusted said the team had spent “months and months preparing for this”, and their goal was to deliver a large-scale show, while adhering to a tight timeline to get into the match. The players were still exiting the field after halftime at approximately 3:55 PM ET, as the crew exited the stage and then began the approximately 11-minute performance at the end of the first half at approximately 4:01 PM ET.
“It was always about bringing together the best performers in the world and creating a real moment of collaboration and unity,” Carrington said. THR.
Post Malone headlined the pre-show, which began 90 minutes before kickoff, performing new song “Chrome Heartbreaker,” as well as his 2018 hit “Wow,” as well as his smash hit “Sunflower” with Wow’s Swae Lee. Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse. Swae came out for the final track as well.
Also featured was iShowSpeed, who danced to an image of the Empire State Building and reminded the audience, “This is the World Cup.” Special care was taken to try to protect the turf, as crews spread a larger canopy of the New York City skyline over the field for the pre-show, and turned on sprinklers after the performance.
Before the match, Nicole Scherzinger and Laura Pausini joined Robbie Williams in singing “Desire”, the official FIFA anthem penned by Williams, while Jennifer Hudson sang the United States national anthem. Williams escorted Scherzinger and Bosini off the field, side by side, before the national anthems of Spain and Argentina.
Tom Cruise also took to the field to deliver a speech about the importance of sport, saying “Football has no language,” while the crowd chanted “Olé, Olé, Olé” continued uninterrupted.
