The World Cup final is borrowing a page from the Super Bowl. For the first time, the championship match of soccer's global tournament will feature a full halftime concert, and the pop star Justin Bieber is the latest big name added to the bill.
Who's performing
Bieber joins a lineup that already included Madonna, Shakira and BTS, with additional performers announced for the show, Al Jazeera reported. Coldplay's Chris Martin is helping curate the production, part of a collaboration between FIFA and the advocacy group Global Citizen, Rolling Stone reported.
The result is a lineup that spans pop, K-pop and Latin music, assembled for a performance that organizers hope will reach one of the largest television audiences of the year.
When and where
The final is set for July 19 at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, the culmination of the first World Cup jointly hosted by the United States, Canada and Mexico. A halftime show of this scale is new territory for the event, which has historically kept its intermissions brief and low-key.
A cause attached
FIFA has tied the show to a fundraising push. The performance is meant to benefit a Global Citizen education initiative, with organizers setting an ambitious goal for money raised to expand access to schooling and youth soccer, FIFA said in announcing the lineup. Framing the spectacle around a charitable cause is part of how the governing body has pitched the addition of a Super Bowl-style show to purists who prize the match itself.
The bigger picture
The star wattage says something about how far the World Cup has moved into the center of global pop culture, especially with this year's final in the New York media market. Whether a marquee halftime show becomes a permanent fixture of the tournament, or a one-time experiment for a U.S.-hosted final, will depend in part on how July 19 comes off. For now, the match will share its spotlight, at least for a few minutes, with some of the biggest names in music.
