MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency
Thursday, June 11th 2026 - 06:35 UTC
For Shakira, it will be her fourth World Cup appearance, after “Hips Don't Lie” in 2006, “Waka Waka” in 2010 —the official song of that South African edition— and “La La La” in 2014
Mexico City will be the stage on Thursday for the opening ceremony of the 2026 World Cup, the first contested by 48 teams and the first hosted by three countries: Mexico, the United States and Canada. The event will take place at the Estadio Ciudad de México, the former Azteca, before the opening match between host Mexico and South Africa. The ceremony will begin at 11:30 a.m. central Mexico time, about 90 minutes before the start of the match, set for 1:00 p.m. (2:30 and 4:00 p.m. in Montevideo and Buenos Aires; 1:30 and 3:00 p.m. in the eastern United States; 7:30 and 9:00 p.m. in Madrid).
According to FIFA, the show will be headlined by Colombia's Shakira and Nigeria's Burna Boy, who will perform “Dai Dai” live for the first time, the tournament's official song, whose title comes from an Italian expression meaning “let's go.” The Mexican lineup brings together nine artists and also includes Colombia's J Balvin, South Africa's Tyla, Mexicans Alejandro Fernández, Belinda, Lila Downs, Los Ángeles Azules and Maná, and Venezuela's Danny Ocean. Artistic direction is in the hands of Italy's Marco Balich, who oversaw the opening of the Milan-Cortina Winter Games.
