Justin Bieber, Madonna, BTS and Shakira divide World Cup 2026 audience with underwhelming halftime performance
The World Cup Final’s highly anticipated star-studded halftime show featuring everyone from Justin Bieber to Madonna and BTS ended up being an underwhelming, confusing bunch of “crap,’’ critics said Sunday.
The superstars co-headlined the halftime show Sunday at the MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, which was curated by Coldplay frontman Chris Martin. The star power was considerable, but the overall combination proved to be a bad mix of energy, odd transitions, and an overall feeling of discord.
When asked on air by BBC Sport what he thought of the show, legendary English soccer star Wayne Rooney bluntly said, “I like a lot of them artists, but I thought it was crap.”
Madonna took the stage first, and didn’t even sing live, instead lip-syncing to her 2000 hit “Music” with dancers roller skating around her before dramatically walking out of a tunnel and stepping onto the field.
Her performance transitioned into a strange focus on the Muppets’ Animal playing the drums to the White Stripes’ hit “Seven Nation Army,” apropos of nothing.
BTS then gave a forumlaic but energetic performance of “Dynamite,” before Jason Sudeikis walked on out of nowhere to make an inexplicable appearance as his beloved character Ted Lasso to introduce Justin Bieber.
Bieber proceeded to slow the pace down considerably, singing his hit “Everything Hallelujah” acoustic while playing guitar.
Shakira then took the stage with Burna Boy to sing “Dai Dai,” shaking her hips and bringing the energy abruptly back up.
Lastly, Coldplay also took the stage along with Gustavo Dudamel and PS22 Chorus — a viral choir of 4th and 5th graders from New York — to close the show. The children all wore colorful jerseys and danced energetically as “Love” with a globe was spelled out on the field, which was a feel-good moment, but not enough to save the entire patchwork production.
The performance marked the first halftime show in FIFA World Cup history. A-list celebs were in the stands to watch, including Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt, Adrien Brody, as well as Timothée Chalamet and girlfriend Kylie Jenner.
The star-studded show supported the FIFA Global Citizen Education Fund, an initiative working to raise $100 million to expand access to quality education and football for children worldwide. The Education Fund has already raised over $50 million, and $1 from every ticket sold to FIFA World Cup 2026 matches was donated throughout the tournament.
Martin announced the halftime show performance in May, with an adorable video featuring “Sesame Street” icons Elmo and Cookie Monster, as well as the Muppets’ Kermit the Frog, Miss Piggy, and Animal. The video showed Martin and Elmo asking BTS members Jin, Suga, J-Hope, RM, Jimin, V, and Jung Kook via FaceTime if they wanted to join the halftime show performance.
“It’s a chance to show how amazing all different types of humans are,” Martin says in the heartwarming video.
“This show is more about ‘we’ than ‘me,’” he later shares. “I mean, it’s about togetherness, really.”
The FIFA World Cup 2026 final featured a match between Argentina and Spain to win the tournament. Argentina beat England last Wednesday to advance to the final with a score of 2-1, leaving celeb fans like David Beckham devastated in the stands. England defeated France 6-4 on Saturday for a third-place finish in the World Cup.
Beckham’s 21-year-old son, Cruz, was snapped comforting his dad in the stands at Atlanta Stadium in Georgia last week, giving him a big hug.
A seat at the World Cup Final has been a hot commodity even amid A-listers, with sources telling Page Six that tickets were almost “impossible” to get ahead of the match.
Tickets “have become one of the toughest gets in town, while hotels, restaurants and private clubs are being overwhelmed by athletes, entertainers, executives and sponsors arriving for the week,” a sports and entertainment insider told us.
Veteran sports event marketer David Spencer noted that sports events like the World Cup are now rivaling other major entertainment gatherings in scale.
“Artists want to perform, brands want to entertain their top clients, and executives and celebrities want to be in the same rooms,” he said.
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