For the first time in history, the World Cup Final will have a halftime show. Organised by Chris Martin of Coldplay, it will feature Madonna, BTS and Shakira in a star-studded spectacle that could last up to 25 minutes.
The line-up is incredible, and it's all for a good cause, but it also feels like the culmination of a controversial shift in World Cup branding. While Chris Martin says the intention is to bring people together, the announcement is already polarising opinion (also see the best and worst World Cup adverts of 2026).
The World Cup 2026 half-time show is being billed as a fundraiser. Produced by the international education and advocacy organisation Global Citizen, it's intended to help generate awareness and donations for the FIFA Global Citizen Education Fund, which aims to raise $100 million (around half of Cristiano Ronaldo's annual salary) for children's education.
While the announcement above suggests the lineup was picked by Sesame Street characters, it seems to have been carefully calculated. There's the veteran US star Madonna to appeal to older audiences just as she prepares to release her new album Confessions II.
Shakira resonates with Latin America audiences and football culture in general due to her long links to the World Cup, from 2010's Waka Waka to this year's Dai Dai with Burna Boy. BTS, back on tour after military service, mobilise a massive digital-first youth audience, particularly in Asia (and we've learned not to mess with BTS fans).
Fans of the artists are elated, with many predicting an epic spectacle like Bad Bunny's Super Bowl show. But a lot of football fans are furious, and I can see why. There's a genuine concern that extending the half-time break from 15 minutes will disrupt the energy of the match. More generally, the move cements a transformation of World Cup branding that shifts its focus from sport to pop culture entertainment and spectacle.
While that's an attempt to attract new audiences, traditional football fans see it as an Americanisation of the tournament. Social media is full of comments like "The US should never host football again" – although this is presumably a FIFA initiative not necessarily related to the host nations.
It's not just the half-time show. This year's World Cup will also be the first to feature mandatory three-minute advertising hydration breaks midway through each half, effectively chopping matches into quarters like American football. There's even the staid standardisation of the World cup logo, following the lead of the Super Bowl logo.
"Football is far more successful than any American sport for a lot of reasons," one person writes on X. "For one it’s actually an interesting sport so doesn’t need trashing halftime shows and loads of extra entertainment to make people watch and attend it".
"They are spoiling the sport. Imagine you're 2-0 down and want to go on the pitch and fight hard, but you need to wait for Yellow to finish and the pitch to get cleaned up," someone else complains.
"Half time break is for players to rest and restrategize, not have a short nap. 25 minutes would also kill the energy of the fans," another person laments.
Did the World Cup need this? It was already the most-watched sporting spectacle in the world. Some have suggested that the half-time show is an attempt to reduce “viewer churn” during halftime, but who stops watching the World Cup final at half time?
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