Justin Bieber joins Madonna and Shakira for World Cup halftime show on July 19
The 11-minute performance at MetLife Stadium will feature Coldplay's Chris Martin as creative director and appearances from the Muppets and Sesame Street.
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Justin Bieber, Madonna, Shakira, Burna Boy and the K-pop group BTS will headline the halftime show for the FIFA World Cup final on July 19 at MetLife Stadium in the New York suburbs. The performance will run 11 minutes, FIFA organizers announced Wednesday.
Coldplay's Chris Martin is directing the creative vision, with his band participating in collaboration with a renowned public school choir from New York. The Muppets and Sesame Street characters will also appear on stage.
The length announcement aims to ease concerns the show could stretch to 25 minutes. Last year's World Club final at the same stadium ran just over 24 minutes for a similar performance, drawing criticism about its impact on player recovery during halftime.
But organizers acknowledge the setup and teardown of sets may require extending the break beyond the official 11 minutes. FIFA rules cap halftime at 15 minutes maximum.
FIFA president Gianni Infantino promised "the greatest stage of all time," with an estimated several billion viewers globally. The concert will fundraise for Global Citizen's education initiative, working with the UN-affiliated nonprofit to expand access to schooling worldwide.
Justin Bieber called the performance a chance to "unite the world in a unique way" and expand education access "to the four corners of the globe." Global Citizen co-founder Hugh Evans compared the artist lineup to Live Aid, the 1985 benefit concert against Ethiopian famine, calling these "possibly the 11 most-watched minutes of live music television in history."
