Shakira will headline the opening ceremony in Mexico City, marking the first of three coordinated musical celebrations staged across the World Cup’s host nations as FIFA expands the tournament’s entertainment footprint into a multi-country spectacle.
The global music stars are set to perform “Dai Dai,” the official song of the tournament, ahead of the opening match between co-host Mexico and South Africa on Thursday. The performance will take place shortly before kickoff in Mexico City, where FIFA is staging the first of its opening ceremonies designed to reflect the expanded scale and commercial ambition of the 2026 World Cup, which will be jointly hosted by Mexico, the United States and Canada.
FIFA has confirmed that each host nation will hold its own opening ceremony on matchday, creating a staggered sequence of concerts and performances that function as curtain-raisers for opening fixtures across North America. The organization has framed the approach as an effort to blend global pop culture with football’s biggest international tournament, turning early matchdays into coordinated entertainment events across multiple cities.
The Mexico City lineup features a wide roster of Latin American and international performers, including Alejandro Fernández, Belinda, Danny Ocean, J Balvin, Lila Downs, Los Ángeles Azules, Maná and Tyla. FIFA said additional artists would be announced for the opening ceremonies in the United States and Canada, signaling that the entertainment program is still being finalized in the final weeks before the tournament begins.
In Toronto, the Canadian opening ceremony on June 12 will be led by Alanis Morissette and Michael Bublé, who are scheduled to perform ahead of Canada’s opening match against Bosnia and Herzegovina. The event will serve as Canada’s primary showcase within FIFA’s broader entertainment strategy, highlighting both domestic talent and internationally recognized Canadian performers in a televised pre-match concert format.
Later that same day, Los Angeles will host the United States’ opening ceremony, where Katy Perry, K-pop and global pop star LISA, Nigerian Afrobeats artist Rema, Brazilian singer Anitta and rapper Future are all expected to perform ahead of the U.S. team’s match against Paraguay. The simultaneous scheduling across multiple cities underscores FIFA’s effort to turn the opening round of fixtures into a continent-wide cultural moment rather than a single centralized event.
The three ceremonies are being produced by Italian creative director Marco Balich, whose portfolio includes large-scale global sporting spectacles, including the opening ceremony of the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics. Each performance is scheduled to take place roughly 90 minutes before kickoff, integrating live music into the matchday experience without altering the traditional football schedule.
Shakira, who has previously been associated with major global football events, is also among the headline performers slated for the World Cup final, where she is expected to take part in a Super Bowl-style halftime show alongside Madonna and the South Korean boy band BTS. FIFA has increasingly leaned on high-profile entertainment acts in recent tournaments, reflecting a broader shift toward hybrid sporting and music-driven global broadcasts designed to maximize viewership and commercial reach.
The integration of entertainment into World Cup programming is not new, but the scale of the 2026 rollout marks a significant expansion. When the tournament was last held in the United States in 1994, Diana Ross performed at the opening ceremony in Chicago, in a moment that became part of World Cup popular culture after she famously missed a penalty kick as part of the staged performance. FIFA has since moved toward more elaborate and globally coordinated productions, aligning its ceremonies more closely with major music award shows and global televised events.
The official tournament song, “Dai Dai,” is also tied to FIFA’s broader philanthropic messaging. According to organizers, the track is intended to help raise $100 million for the FIFA Global Citizen Education Fund, which supports education initiatives worldwide. The integration of fundraising into the tournament’s entertainment programming reflects FIFA’s ongoing effort to link commercial spectacle with social impact initiatives, even as critics have previously questioned the balance between sport, branding and corporate partnerships.
As anticipation builds ahead of the tournament, FIFA’s decision to distribute opening ceremonies across three countries represents a structural departure from previous World Cups, where a single host city typically anchored the opening spectacle. In 2026, the opening acts will instead unfold in parallel across Mexico City, Toronto and Los Angeles, creating a synchronized regional launch that mirrors the tournament’s expanded format and 48-team structure.
The organization has not yet disclosed full production details for the ceremonies, but officials have indicated that each event will reflect local cultural identity while maintaining a unified global theme. With music acts spanning Latin pop, Afrobeats, K-pop, North American pop and hip-hop, the lineup underscores FIFA’s strategy of positioning the World Cup not only as a sporting competition but as a global entertainment platform with cross-continental cultural reach.
