The final of the FIFA World Cup will feature a halftime show in the style of the Super Bowl for the first time. FIFA President Gianni Infantino announced the historic inclusion, scheduled for July 19, 2026, at New Jersey’s MetLife Stadium.
“This will be a historic moment and a historic game for the FIFA World Cup,” Infantino said of the opening match, vowing a spectacle that will be commensurate with the global scale of the tournament. The performance is said to be curated by FIFA and the British rock giants Coldplay in partnership with Global Citizen, which suggests there will be a varied musical lineup for a global audience.
Logistically, adding a high-energy performance into football’s traditional 15-minute halftime poses a challenge. FIFA needs to pull this off as seamlessly as the NFL’s Super Bowl, where intermissions approach 30 minutes.
In addition to halftime entertainment, FIFA is bringing a large fan zone to New York’s Times Square for the final weekend, with festivities around both the bronze final and the championship match. The move, with the U.S. co-hosting with Canada and Mexico, seeks to provide yet another boost to soccer’s ascendant popularity in North America.
FIFA has yet to announce the complete list of performers, but the bar is high for the World Cup, which has no equal when it comes to global viewership.
