Just when you thought the World Cup final halftime show couldn't get any more stacked, it might be about to get a Bieber Fever injection. The show, set to run roughly 11 minutes in true Super Bowl fashion, already reads like a fantasy festival lineup, Shakira making her triumphant return to a World Cup stage after years away, Madonna bringing her Queen of Pop credentials, and BTS showing up to remind everyone they run the internet. Now word is Justin Bieber wants in too.
According to TMZ and a chorus of entertainment outlets who picked up the story, FIFA is in talks to add Bieber to the July 19 spectacle at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, rebranded for the tournament as New York New Jersey Stadium (because apparently even stadiums need a World Cup glow up). Coldplay's Chris Martin is curating the show, Global Citizen is producing it, and the whole thing is raising money for the FIFA Global Citizen Education Fund, so somewhere in between the pop spectacle there is actually a good cause tucked in.
Football's Halftime Show Habit Is Getting Serious
European football purists used to roll their eyes at the very idea of a halftime concert, treating it as an American import that had no business anywhere near the beautiful game. That resistance has quietly crumbled. Halftime shows keep showing up at major finals, and they keep getting bigger, to the point where skipping the concert now feels like skipping the fireworks.
And Bieber, it turns out, has been warming up for this moment for a while, and not just vocally. He has picked up serious goodwill among Israeli fans in recent years. As Srugim has reported, he has repeatedly spotlighted Israeli singer Nati Livyan on his Instagram, handing him a genuinely global stage. He also once shared a photo of a Hebrew tattoo belonging to music producer Carter Lang, a post that quietly set off a small firestorm among pro-Palestinian commentators online.
He has also been circling the tournament itself all month. Bieber and Hailey Bieber turned up at the Inglewood opening ceremony, where he reportedly slipped in a surprise intimate performance for VIP guests, the kind of low-key flex that apparently got FIFA thinking bigger.
Nothing is signed yet. No confirmation from Bieber's camp, none from FIFA either. But if the talks land where insiders say they're headed, the World Cup final will not just crown a champion, it will hand out one of the most talked about halftime shows in music history.
