FIFA’s Global Music Initiative for the World Cup

FIFA is expanding its musical footprint for the 2026 World Cup by releasing a full “Official FIFA World Cup 2026 Album” that features artists from K-pop, American country, Nigerian rap and pop acts such as Ava Max. The tournament’s final will include a halftime show with Shakira, Madonna, BTS, Justin Bieber and other performers, while the closing ceremony will be headlined by Post Malone. This effort follows a long-standing strategy to pair the sport with chart-topping songs that resonate across cultures.

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The practice of commissioning official songs dates back to at least 1962, when Chilean rock band Los Ramblers released “El Rock del Mundial.” A turning point arrived in 1998 when Puerto Rican singer Ricky Martin recorded “La Copa de la Vida,” which became the first World Cup anthem to achieve worldwide chart success. The 2010 South African tournament produced Shakira’s “Waka Waka (This Time for Africa),” a simple hook that quickly turned into an online meme and captured the continent’s enthusiasm for hosting the event.

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Panelists at a recent FIFA-Rolling Stone discussion—including Marco Nazarri, Director of Marketing at FIFA; Panos A. Panay, President of the Recording Academy; and Rodney Alejandro, Dean of Berklee College of Music—explained how music is engineered to forge emotional bonds among fans, teams and the tournament itself. They described a coordinated internal operation that selects songs with “simple, catchy phrases” and “captures the emotion of the moment.” Panay emphasized that the goal is to “convince audiences in different ways to tune in to a sport that they otherwise wouldn’t have watched,” while Alejandro noted that the music aims to be “for the entire world, whether you speak the language or not.” The panel highlighted that the collaborative nature of performances—such as Italian singer Andrea Bocelli’s duet with South Korean pop star EJAE—exemplifies the “magic” FIFA seeks to replicate every four years.

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• “Football has a way of making this really deep emotional connection with fans,” — Panos A. Panay

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• “There’s only three things that do this without any translation: football, music and food.” — Panos A. Panay

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• “It comes down to having some simple, catchy phrase. But the next thing is capturing the emotion of what the moment is,” — Rodney Alejandro

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• “To me, that’s magic.” — Panos A. Panay

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• “They’d never met before,” — Marco Nazarri

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• “I do believe that music is convincing audiences in different ways to tune in to a sport that they otherwise wouldn’t have watched,” — Panos A. Panay

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