Eagle-eyed fans at MetLife Stadium may have noticed a stage being built in the sky.
As football clubs from around the world battled it out on the pitch below, this curious platform slowly began to take shape over the last few weeks of the Club World Cup.
It’s podium-like shape could have made you wonder. Is this where either Chelsea or Paris Saint-Germain will be crowned champions on Sunday? Or, more logically, is this where the tournament’s halftime show will take place? Turns out, it’s the latter, as FIFA confirmed to The Athletic this week.
This stage, high in the nose-bleed sections of the venue, will be where J Balvin, Doja Cat, Tems and Emmanuel Kelly will make history for FIFA. Across all its competitions, this will be the first time a FIFA tournament carries a halftime show.
Global Citizen, which partnered with FIFA and is leading the halftime show with Coldplay’s Chris Martin, revealed more details to Rolling Stone on Friday. Together, the groups built a high-tech stage in the upper stands to avoid damaging the pitch at halftime, featuring 40,000 pounds of staging, scenery and structural truss. It took six semi-trucks to deliver this to the venue, they said, with the stage made up of 4,000 feet of pipe bracing, LED displays with nearly 16 million pixels.
“By building our platform high in the stands, we ensured that the newly installed natural grass remains untouched while delivering an unforgettable show that is designed to be time-efficient and visually stunning,” Hugh Evans, Global Citizen’s CEO, told Rolling Stone.
The 15-minute halftime show is a curious addition to FIFA’s tournament lineup, but falls in line with their theme of expanding and growing the competition as much as the governing body can. Halftime shows are more an American tradition than a soccer one, with the NFL’s Super Bowl halftime show the biggest example of what this looks like.
Shakira performed on the field at halftime of the 2024 Copa América final (Megan Briggs / Getty Images)
FIFA has notably never hosted a halftime performance in the past. Last year, Conmebol took a risk when it tapped Shakira to debut in Copa América’s inaugural halftime show in Miami. The plans were openly criticized because of the extended break it would create for players, a result of having to set and unset a stage. It will be interesting to see if there are any gripes now that FIFA’s in charge, or if the sky-high staging helps alleviate any of those potential grievances.
The way foreign executives see it, Americans have successfully merged sport with entertainment in a way that is unmatched elsewhere in the world. It’s why so many soccer tournaments have come to the U.S. in recent years, and it’s why next year’s World Cup is fully embracing this in not-so-subtle ways, like a halftime show.
This weekend’s Club World Cup will also feature a pre-match, over-the-top ceremony. FIFA is encouraging fans to arrive to the stadium early to catch it at 1:30 p.m. ET, or to tune in then. The match’s start time is 90 minutes later.
The pre-match ceremony features three parts. First, there’s the countdown to the final, followed by a performance of Desire by FIFA’s music ambassador Robbie Williams and pop icon Laura Pausini. There will also be “a powerful tribute to the tournament hosts,” with the national anthem performed, a color guard and a “dramatic flyover and dazzling pyrotechnics (that) will electrify the stadium,” in FIFA’s words.
The latter is fitting considering that U.S. President Donald Trump said he’ll attend the final on Sunday, joking that he would be “delivering” the trophy to the event. What we do know is that the trophy ceremony will be pitch-side after the final whistle.
There is still plenty we don’t know about the halftime show – like whether performers will be limited to the stage, or if we’ll see anyone pull a Lady Gaga. How could anyone forget her big leaps and dramatic exit during the 2017 Super Bowl in Houston?
One sure thing is that whatever happens this weekend will likely offer lessons and instruction for 2026.
(Top photo: Luke Hales / Getty Images)
