FIFA makes U-turn over World Cup final half-time show after Spain and Argentina concerns

FIFA has told Spain and Argentina that the World Cup final half-time show will last 17 minutes following concerns that it could run for half an hour.

The World Cup final will be held at the MetLife Stadium in New Jersey on Sunday with kick-off at 8pm BST, and for the first time ever, FIFA has organised a Super Bowl-style show for the half-time break.

Justin Bieber will join Madonna, Shakira and K-pop boyband BTS as co-headliners, while the show has been curated by Chris Martin of Coldplay.

Earlier this week, reports suggested that the World Cup half-time show could last up to 30 minutes, which would breach the maximum time of 15 minutes permitted under the International FA Board’s (IFAB) Laws of the Game.

However, FIFA has has contacted the Spanish and Argentinian football associations ahead of the World Cup final to confirm that the half-time break will last a total of 17 minutes, six of which will be dedicated to the assembly and dismantling of the stage, while the show itself will be reduced and concentrated into an 11-minute block.

In last year’s Club World Cup final where Chelsea beat Paris Saint-Germain at the MetLife Stadium, FIFA’s half-time show lasted 24 minutes following performances from Coldplay, J Balvin, Doja Cat, Tems and Emmanuel Kelly.

In 2021, CONMEBOL, the governing body of football in South America, wanted to extend the maximum half-time length to 25 minutes but that was rejected by IFAB due to the ‘negative impact on player welfare and safety resulting from a longer period of inactivity’.

Then in 2024, CONMEBOL produced a half-time show for the Copa America final between Argentina and Colombia, which lasted around 25 minutes.

‘I think the half-time for the final should be 15 minutes because those are the rules,’ Colombia head coach Nestor Lorenzo said before his side’s 1-0 defeat to Argentina in the final.

‘But now apparently, because there’s going to be a concert, we’ll be walking back out 20 to 25 minutes later. This could affect the players’ fitness, they could cool down too much. Those minutes of recovery in the dressing room… people don’t understand what it takes to reach those levels.’

Meanwhile, Sunday’s World Cup will also include a closing ceremony show starting 90 minutes before kick-off involving Robbie Williams, Tom Cruise and Nicole Scherzinger.

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