Madonna, BTS, Justin Bieber and Shakira headlined the first-ever FIFA World Cup Finals Halftime Show on Sunday, playing a packed 11-minute mega-mix that also featured Burna Boy, the New York Philharmonic’s Gustavo Dudamel and The Muppets.  Madonna kicked off the show, throttling through the New York-New Jersey stadium tunnels in a dune buggy, fittingly driven by renowned Brazilian soccer players Ronaldo and Ronaldinho, in a pre-recorded segment. The pop star appeared on screen, singing a new version of her 2000 hit “Music” infused with elements of “Disco Inferno” and “Danceteria,” before appearing on the pitch and handing over the baton to conductor Gustavo Dudamel. blogherads.adq.push(function () { blogherads .defineSlot( 'medrec', 'gpt-article-mid-article-uid0' ) .setTargeting( 'pos', ["mid-article1","mid-articleX","mid","mid-article"] ) .setTargeting( 'viewable', 'yes' ) .setSubAdUnitPath("ros\/mid-article") .addSize([[300,250],[2,2],[300,251],[620,350],[2,4],[4,2],[320,480],[620,366]]) .setClsOptimization("minsize") ; }); Related Stories TV How to Livestream the World Cup Halftime Show With BTS, Bieber, Madonna and Shakira TV Where to Watch Spain vs. Argentina in the 2026 World Cup Final Online He led musicians from the New York Philharmonic and Venezuela’s Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra in a rendition of “Seven Nation Army,” with Iranian violinist Bijan Mortazavi and The Muppets’ rock group Electric Mayhem, in one of several Muppets appearances. Ronaldinho and Ronaldo with Madonna at the FIFA World Cup Final Halftime Show 🇧🇷 pic.twitter.com/n8HJrfAjOk K-pop superstars BTS took to the pitch with a football-inspired performance of their hit “Dynamite,” with a lead in from a video of Norway’s rowing chant and rewritten lyrics for the halftime show. Jason Sudeikis and Brendan Hunt then popped up on field in character as Ted Lasso and Coach Beard from their Apple TV series, as they encouraged Justin Bieber before he took the pitch to cheers from the crowd. Bieber then took the volume down with a soulful rendition of his 2025 song “Everything Hallelujah,” before handing it over to Shakira and Burna Boy, who brought the noise back up, in a highlight of the halftime show, and performed the official song of the FIFA World Cup “Dai Dai,” alongside Uganda’s Ghetto Kids, dancing in a sea of yellow costumes. Off-camera, a group of rainbow-shirted schoolchildren snuck onto the field to ready for the finale. blogherads.adq.push(function () { blogherads .defineSlot( 'medrec', 'gpt-dsk-tab-mid-article2-uid1' ) .setTargeting( 'pos', ["mid","mid-article2","mid-articleX"] ) .setTargeting( 'viewable', 'yes' ) .setSubAdUnitPath("ros\/mid-article2") .addSize([[300,250],[300,251],[620,350],[2,4],[4,2],[320,480],[620,366]]) .setClsOptimization("minsize") ; }); The schoolchildren, from Staten Island’s PS22, were joined by Coldplay, more Muppets, and Australian singer-songwriter Emmanuel Kelly, who debuted “We Dance,” an original song written by Coldplay for the halftime show. The pitch, which was covered by a rainbow-colored tarp to protect the grass, was filled with dancers holding colorful balls, as fans in the stadium waved the colorful flags found in all the seats. The halftime programming was curated by Coldplay’s Chris Martin and produced by Global Citizen, which has a goal of raising $100 million for the FIFA Global Citizen Education Fund, with $1 from each ticket throughout the World Cup donated to the fund. The 80,000-capacity New York New Jersey stadium was packed with few empty seats in the sea of red and white and blue at the final matchup of Spain versus Argentina. President Trump was a confirmed attendee, with celebrities including Pharrell, Matt Damon, Adrien Brody and Will Ferrell also spotted in the crowd.  This marked Bieber’s first public performance since his much-discussed headlining set at Coachella back in April and came on the heels of Madonna’s new dance-pop album Confessions II and amid the Arirang world tour for K-Pop band BTS, which is returning to touring after band members took a three-year hiatus to complete mandatory military service. BTS arrived in New York this morning after perfroming a show last night at Paris’s Stade de France.