Lee Jae and Lisa Open, BTS Closes... A 6 Billion-Spectator Festival Begins with K-pop [2026 World Cup]

Lee Jae Performs Korean Song at Mexico Opening Ceremony
Lisa to Take the Stage at U.S. Opening Event on June 13
BTS to Headline First-Ever World Cup Final Halftime Show

Lee Jae (right), who sang the World Cup anthem. Photo by Reuters and Yonhap News

The 2026 FIFA World Cup in North and Central America kicked off on June 12 (Korean time). From the opening celebration performance before the first match to the final, a large number of K-pop artists are participating, drawing attention from music fans around the world.

Korean composer and singer Lee Jae (EJAE) took the stage at the opening ceremony held at Mexico City Stadium in Mexico on this day. Lee Jae performed the tournament's official anthem "DNA" together with Italian opera singer Andrea Bocelli. In the stadium, packed with more than 80,000 spectators, he sang a song featuring Korean lyrics. Lee Jae is a creator who has participated in the production of songs for domestic idol groups such as Red Velvet, aespa, TWICE, and Le Sserafim. Recently, he also worked on the soundtrack for the Netflix animation "K-Pop Demon Hunters." For this World Cup, Lee Jae participated in the official anthem alongside Andrea Bocelli, David Guetta, and Megan Thee Stallion, writing the Korean lyrics himself.

The opening ceremony, which began around 2:40 a.m., featured the flags of all 48 participating countries. Shakira and Burna Boy performed the tournament's official theme song "Dai Dai," supporting the Global Citizen educational fund. Global pop stars Alejandro Fernandez, Belinda, J Balvin, Tyla, and Mana also took the stage for the opening celebration performance.

After the ceremony, at 4:05 a.m., Mexico and South Africa played the official opening match of Group A in the group stage. The match took place at Mexico City Stadium (Estadio Azteca), making it the first stadium ever to host the World Cup opening match three times, following the 1970 and 1986 tournaments. In the match, Mexico won 2-0 over South Africa, with Julian Quinones and Raul Jimenez scoring consecutive goals.

At the U.S. opening ceremony held at Los Angeles Stadium, Lisa, formerly of Blackpink, will perform. On June 13, she will share the stage with Katy Perry, Future, Anitta, Rema, and Tyla. FIFA previously announced that Lisa, Anitta, and Rema have released "Goals" as a track on the official album. This song blends Latin pop, Afrobeats, and K-pop elements. Lisa will perform this song live for the first time at the U.S. opening ceremony. During the 2022 Qatar World Cup, Jungkook of BTS performed the official soundtrack "Dreamers" at the opening ceremony.

BTS will be featured in the closing event at the final match of the tournament. On July 19, BTS will take the stage for the halftime show at the World Cup final at the New York-New Jersey Stadium in the United States, joining Madonna and Shakira as co-headliners. This is the first time a halftime show will be introduced at the World Cup final. Chris Martin of the band Coldplay is producing the show. FIFA, together with Global Citizen, is organizing this performance and raising funds to support children's education worldwide.

BTS world tour stage in Goyang for 'Arirang'. Provided by Big Hit Music.

The group TWS released "Dream With Us," the official cheer song for the Korean national football team, on music platforms on June 11. The lyrics convey the message, "When we believe in miracles together, miracles begin." After being appointed as an ambassador for the Korea Football Association in 2025, TWS appeared in promotional videos for the national team's pop-up store. The new song was first unveiled at the final national team friendly match between Korea and El Salvador held in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States, on June 4. The song will be used at national team cheering events throughout the World Cup.

Bank of America (BofA) Global Research recently reported that this World Cup is expected to attract as many as 6 billion viewers worldwide and boost the global gross domestic product (GDP) by about 41 billion dollars (approximately 60 trillion won).

The tournament is being co-hosted in 16 cities across the United States, Canada, and Mexico. The number of participating countries has increased from 32 to 48, and the number of matches has expanded from 64 to 104, making it the largest tournament ever. FIFA increased the total funds distributed among the 48 participating associations to 871 million dollars (about 1.2866 trillion won). Korea, which qualified for the finals, secured at least 12.5 million dollars (about 18.5 billion won), including a 2.5 million dollar preparation grant and a 10 million dollar participation allocation. The winner's prize money is 50 million dollars (about 74 billion won).

The Korean national team is grouped in Group A with Mexico, South Africa, and the Czech Republic. Led by head coach Hong Myungbo, the Korean team will play its first group match against the Czech Republic at Guadalajara Stadium in Mexico at 11 a.m. on June 12. Korea will then play its second and third group matches against Mexico on June 19 and South Africa on June 25, respectively.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.