Justin Bieber has been added to the lineup of the first-ever World Cup final halftime show, with organizers confirming the entire musical performance will last 11 minutes.
The Canadian megastar joins Madonna, Shakira, K-pop group BTS, Nigerian singer-songwriter Burna Boy, and Venezuelan classical conductor Gustavo Dudamel for the Super Bowl-style show on July 19 at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey. Coldplay's Chris Martin is curating the event. The show will also feature characters from Sesame Street and The Muppets.
According to Al Jazeera, FIFA chief Gianni Infantino has said the halftime show will be "definitely the biggest stage ever," with "a couple of billion" expected to tune in to the performance.
The confirmation of an 11-minute runtime addresses concerns about how long the halftime break would be extended. The laws of football allow a halftime interval not exceeding 15 minutes. Even an 11-minute performance could require the break to run longer, given the time needed to set up and disassemble the stage. Earlier speculation had suggested the show might stretch as long as 25 minutes.
At 11 minutes, the performance would be slightly shorter than most recent Super Bowl halftime shows, which have typically run about 13 to 14 minutes.
A halftime show was trialled at last year's FIFA Club World Cup final, also at MetLife Stadium, and stretched the entire halftime break to just over 24 minutes.
The show is tied to FIFA's Global Citizen Education Fund, an initiative working to raise $100 million for children worldwide during the tournament. Coldplay will perform in a collaboration with PS22 Chorus, a choir of students from a New York public elementary school.
"The FIFA World Cup brings the world together in a way nothing else can," Bieber said in a statement. "I'm grateful to be part of this halftime show, and even more grateful knowing it's already helping expand access to education for children around the world," added the performer, known for the songs Stay and Love Yourself.
Hugh Evans, cofounder and CEO of Global Citizen, said in a statement that "This is the single largest gathering of artists united for a cause since Live Aid, and it could well be the most-watched 11 minutes of broadcast music performance in history."
