First-ever World Cup halftime show to feature surprises, producer says
The history-making halftime show during Sunday's 2026 FIFA World Cup final could become the, "most-viewed entertainment event in history," according to the show's organizers.
"You're going to want to watch it five or six times because every single second is absolutely amazing," Hugh Evans, founder and CEO of Global Citizen, which is producing the show in partnership with Live Nation and Done + Dusted, said in an interview that aired Friday on "Good Morning America."
"There are surprises," he added. "It truly is mind blowing."
The 11-minute show is the first-ever halftime show in World Cup history.
Justin Bieber, Madonna, Shakira, Burna Boy and BTS are the headliners of the show, set to take place during Sunday's championship match between Argentina and Spain at New York New Jersey Stadium.
Gustavo Dudamel, conducting a combined orchestra of the New York Philharmonic and the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela, will also take part in the performance, along with the PS22 Chorus featuring Coldplay, Ghetto Kids, Emmanuel Kelly and the Muppets from "Sesame Street," including Kermit and Miss Piggy.
The idea for a World Cup halftime show came from Coldplay frontman Chris Martin, according to Evans, who said the singer called him during the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
"He said, 'Wouldn't it be amazing if we had a halftime show for the next World Cup,'" Evans recalled.
Guy Carrington, the halftime show's executive producer, told "GMA" that Sunday's halftime show is designed to be global in scale.
"It was about bringing together the biggest stars on the planet to create something that felt really collaborative and felt like something that really represented the world, and like all corners of the globe coming together," he said.
In the countdown to the World Cup final, 48 teams from around the world competed in over 100 matches across the United States, Mexico and Canada over the past six weeks.
The last World Cup final, in 2022, reached 1.4 billion viewers, according to FIFA.
This year's final kicks off at 3 p.m. ET, Sunday, with the halftime show beginning at approximately 3:45 p.m. ET.
