Burna Boy is heading into the biggest football night of the year with a stage built for global music icons, and his name is right there among them.
FIFA has confirmed the Nigerian Afrobeats superstar as a co-headliner of the first-ever FIFA World Cup Final Halftime Show, alongside Shakira, Madonna and BTS, with Justin Bieber added to the lineup this week.
The 11-minute performance, curated by Coldplay’s Chris Martin, takes place on Sunday, July 19, at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, right before the World Cup final kicks off. It marks the first time a World Cup final has carried a halftime show at all, borrowing the format that turned the Super Bowl’s midgame slot into one of the most-watched entertainment events on the planet. Joining the headline acts will be Gustavo Dudamel, the Venezuelan conductor and New York Philharmonic music director, alongside the PS22 Chorus, a children’s choir from Staten Island, and Coldplay itself.
As earlier reported by The Guardian, Burna Boy had taken the stage alongside Shakira to perform “Dai Dai” live at the tournament’s opening ceremony in Mexico City on June 11, the same song he co-wrote with her alongside Ed Sheeran and Jon Bellion, a preview of the moment now waiting for him at the final.
Sony Music Publishing’s own credits list him under his full name, Damini Ebunoluwa Ogulu, as a songwriter on the track, not just a featured voice, a distinction that separates his involvement from that of a guest act.
“The FIFA World Cup is one of the few moments that truly brings the entire world together,” Burna Boy said in a statement. “To represent Africa on the first-ever FIFA World Cup Final Halftime Show is a privilege and a responsibility that I don’t take lightly.”
The performance supports FIFA’s Global Citizen Education Fund, which is working toward 100 million dollars for children’s education and football access worldwide. More than 50 million has already come in, FIFA says, with a dollar from every match ticket sold going to the cause. Shakira, Madonna and BTS are performing without a fee, donating their time to the campaign instead.
What makes this worth celebrating is that it isn’t only Burna Boy making waves at this World Cup. Davido, Rema and Ayra Starr already feature on the official World Cup album, and Davido has had his own visible moments around the tournament this year.
Burna Boy’s halftime slot is the high point of that run, not a standalone event. It puts an African artist inside FIFA’s biggest programming decision, co-writing the anthem and co-headlining the final, rather than lending a guest verse to someone else’s spotlight, and it leaves little doubt about where Afrobeats now sits on football’s biggest stage.
