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- Tom Cruise, IShowSpeed, Robbie Williams and more will all take the stage for the 2026 FIFA World Cup Closing Ceremony.
- Meanwhile, Justin Bieber, Madonna, Shakira and BTS will co-headline the first FIFA World Cup Final Halftime Show.
- Burna Boy, Gustavo Dudamel and the PS 22 Chorus featuring Coldplay will also perform.
- The closing ceremony starts at 3:30am AEST on Monday 20 July, with the game kicking off at 5am and the halftime show expected around 5:50am to 6am.
- Australians can watch live and free through SBS and SBS On Demand.
The World Cup final has never struggled for spectacle, but now FIFA is turning it to another level by bringing in Mr. Spectacle himself to star in the 2026 FIFA World Cup’s closing ceremony: Tom Cruise.
Fresh off debuting a new look in the trailer for Digger, FIFA announced that Cruise will take the stage for the closing ceremony in a yet-to-be-disclosed capacity. Safe to say if he jumps out of a plane and lands smack bang in the middle of New York New Jersey Stadium, no-one will be shocked.
But what you might be shocked by is the news that IShowSpeed will also be a part of the ceremony, after dominating the internet with his live reaction of the cup’s biggest moments. Speed might just stand there, make faces, do a little dance and he’ll still send the whole thing viral.
That’s not all, though. FIFA are giving fans, for the very first time, an 11-minute star-studded halftime show and they’ve packed it with huge names. Justin Bieber, Madonna, Shakira and BTS will co-headline the first FIFA World Cup Final Halftime Show at New York / New Jersey Stadium, with Burna Boy, Gustavo Dudamel and the PS 22 Chorus featuring Coldplay also joining the unusually crowded bill.
Who Is Appearing At The 2026 FIFA World Cup Closing Ceremony?
While closing ceremonies are usually rammed with special musical performances, FIFA are making sure the action is as high-octane as possible by throwing a few wildcards into their World Cup closing ceremony lineup that’ll have people watching with bated breath.
Tom Cruise is promised to make a “special appearance”, but no word yet on what that appearance will entail. Will he scale the side of the stadium? Will he do what he does best and just run laps of the field for the full 90 minutes? We’ll have to wait and see.
Then, we have IShowSpeed’s appearance, who, it seems, is truly just happy to be there. He’s been watching every game possible from very cushy suites, and posting his live reactions to every game across social media. Maybe FIFA will just have him watch the ceremony (camera on him, of course) and get his reactions. I’m here for it.
Outside of those two, the lineup feels a bit more traditional with the inclusion of Robbie Williams, Nicole Scherzinger and Italian artist Laura Pausini. Taking an educated guess, they’ll likely be giving their best powerhouse performances while the ceremony celebrates the biggest FIFA World Cup in history, honouring all 48 teams that took part before heading into the final showdown.
Finally, EGOT winner Jennifer Hudson will take the stage to perform the US national anthem, which FIFA is touting as a “special rendition.” Given how impactful, and in some cases legendary, national anthem performances at the Super Bowl have been throughout the years, this will no doubt become one of the ceremony’s most talked-about moments.
Who Is Performing At The 2026 FIFA World Cup Final Halftime Show?
This year’s World Cup brought together a record 48 teams, and FIFA has taken a similarly crowded approach to its first Final Halftime Show. Justin Bieber, Madonna, Shakira and BTS are the four co-headliners, covering several generations of pop before you even get to Burna Boy and Venezuelan conductor Gustavo Dudamel.
Chris Martin is doing double duty, with Coldplay set to appear alongside the PS 22 Chorus, while Martin is curating the wider show through his long-standing role as Global Citizen’s international festival curator. Shakira is also the only artist to have put a song on the table so far, confirming she’ll perform “Dai Dai,” her World Cup track with Burna Boy.
FIFA is yet to announce a complete set list or running order, but we do know that characters from Sesame Street and The Muppets will also appear. With four co-headliners, several supporting performers and only 11 minutes to work with, plenty of football fans will be asking one simple question: bathroom break or Bieber?
What Time Does The FIFA World Cup Closing Ceremony And Half-Time Show Start?
By the time the final arrives, Australian football fans should be familiar with the 5am alarm, but to watch the full spectacle of the biggest match of the cup, you’ll need to be up much earlier.
Coverage of each game has usually starts over an hour before kick-off, but FIFA has confirmed that the closing ceremony, in all its Tom Cruise-infused glory, will begin exactly 90 minutes before the match does. Giving kick-off is at 5am AEST, the closing ceremony will begin at 3:30am AEST. Couple that with any pre-event coverage you want to catch, it might be worth considering not going to bed at all on Sunday night.
Now, FIFA hasn’t given the halftime show its own start time, which makes sense when football rarely cooperates with minute-by-minute scheduling, especially now that FIFA has introduced a mandatory three-minute hydration break in every half. Allowing for the opening 45 minutes plus stoppage time, the performance should begin somewhere between 5:50am and 6am AEST.
| Location | Closing Ceremony | Final kick-off | Estimated halftime show |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Canberra, Hobart | 3:30am | 5am | Around 5:50am–6am |
| Adelaide, Darwin | 3am | 4:30am | Around 5:20am–5:30am |
| Perth | 1:30am | 3am | Around 3:50am–4am |
Those tuning in for the music rather than the match should err on the early side of caution. A long VAR check, injury or goal celebration could shift that window, but arriving by 5:45am AEST should keep you clear of the opening notes, without demanding the full 3:30am pre-game commitment. We’ll leave that to Claudes Fabiano and the rest of the SBS crew.
Where Can You Watch It?
Australia’s in a rather fortunate position with the World Cup coverage. There’s no maze of subscriptions, add-ons or separate music streams to work through. The World Cup final and its halftime show will air live and free on SBS, with the same broadcast available to stream through SBS On Demand.
If you haven’t already, you’ll need to set up an account to watch it live on SBS On Demand. You don’t want to find yourself attempting a password reset while Madonna is already striking a pose on stage or while Tom Cruise descends from the heavens.
Who Is Playing in the FIFA World Cup Final?
Speed, Bieber and the rest already know they’ll be at New York New Jersey Stadium on 19 July, but the main event will be performed by Spain and either Argentina or England. Spain defeated France 2-0 earlier this week (pour one out for Mbappe) but England meets Argentina at 5am AEST on Thursday 16 July.
By Thursday morning, all this entertainment will finally have a match to go with it. And for all the attention on the closing ceremony and halftime show currently has, Spain and their yet-to-be-determined opponent are why most of us will be awake at 5am.
How Long Is the FIFA World Cup Final Halftime Show?
We know the closing ceremony will happen 90 minutes before kick-off, but halftime shows are usually a little trickier to predict. Thankfully, FIFA says the halftime show broadcast will run for 11 minutes. That’s plenty of time to relieve yourself between halves of the World Cup final, but once you divide it among four co-headliners and the rest of FIFA’s supporting cast, the production pressure becomes obvious. There’s no word on how many songs each artist will perform or how the time will be shared between them.
But let’s spare a thought for the production crew putting the whole thing together for everyone on the couch and inside the stadium. Under football’s Laws of the Game, the halftime interval cannot exceed 15 minutes. FIFA hasn’t confirmed exactly how the 11-minute broadcast will fit within the match break, but if it sits inside the standard interval, there’ll be very little time for staging, changeovers and clearing everything away before the players return to the field.
FIFA hasn’t explained how it will work, but there’s clearly little room for anyone to miss a cue.
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