For the first time, the World Cup final will include a halftime show – featuring celebrities from six continents to celebrate the "beautiful game." The show, which will begin somewhere around 3:45 PM ET, will air in the U.S.on Fox, Fox One and in Spanish on Telemundo, as well as on the Fox Sports app and streaming in Spanish on Peacock.
It's expected to run for about 11 minutes.With the artists selected by Coldplay frontman Chris Martin, it's a powerhouse lineup with big mass appeal: Justin Bieber, Madonna (whose new album just debuted at No.1 on the Billboard 200), Shakira (the undisputed World Cup queen), Burna Boy (who duetted with Shakira on this year's official World Cup song – and who is one of the most popular African artists of all time), the global sensation BTS, Coldplay (who brought an inspiring backup choir to their Tiny Desk), the eternally lovable Muppets Kermit and Miss Piggy, conductor Gustavo Dudamel with musicians from the New York Philharmonic and the Simon Bolivar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela, the viral dance troupe Ghetto Kids from Kampala, Uganda, the Iraq-born Australian singer Emmanuel Kelly, and – whew! – the kids from Staten Island's PS22 Chorus.
(How will they all be crammed into an 11-minute spectacle? A fair guess would be lots of arm-in-arm singalongs and Grammy Awards-style mashups aspiring to virality.)In its press materials, FIFA says that the halftime show will support its charity arm, the FIFA Global Citizen Education Fund, whose goal is to raise $100 million to expand education and soccer access to children worldwide.FIFA says that it's already raised half that money, including $1 from every ticket sold by FIFA for this Cup – not much of a percentage, considering that FIFA originally put final game tickets on sale for nearly $3,000 for the cheapest seat, and prices have only skyrocketed since.Soccer is, of course, already the most popular sport in the world; according to the Library of Congress, "estimates suggest ...