LIVE: Shakira speaks at FIFA event after World Cup final halftime show announcement

Please welcome Fox Sports host and reporter, Jenny Taft. Hello, everyone. Welcome. What a crew. This is exciting. This is great. Well, as we all know, every four years, the world comes together for the final match of the FIFA World Cup. Five billion people tune in to watch their favorite teams play for a chance at securing the title of global champion. This year, the FIFA World Cup final is predicted to be the most watched sporting event in history. And in celebration of the beautiful game, Global Citizen is producing the very first FIFA World Cup final halftime show. How about that? Right. And it all began two years ago on the festival stage in Central Park when Global Citizen and FIFA announced a landmark partnership, the Global Citizen FIFA Education Fund, with an ambitious goal of raising $100 million to expand access to quality education for children around the world. Another applause for that, right? And thanks to the leadership and early support from founding donors, MetLife Foundation and Bank of America, this initiative gained the momentum needed to accelerate meaningful impact around the world. And thank you to Cisco for their significant donation as well. And it has all led us here, a historic halftime show rooted in purpose, improving access to quality education for children worldwide. With just 66 days to go until the biggest game on the planet, we are about to meet the artists who will help make history as part of this once in a generation global moment. This will be iconic. It will be unprecedented. And personally, I'm incredibly honored to be a very small part of all of this. And as you may have heard, there was a pretty big announcement earlier today. So let's take a look. Whoa! Wow! Nice catch, Mr. Chris, but you don't play football with your hands. Oh, that's what I was doing wrong. Right. Elmo, I need to ask you help with something. Elmo's always happy to help. Well, this year for the first time, there's a halftime show at the World Cup Final. What? Yeah. No, a halftime show? Yeah, a halftime show. A halftime show? A halftime show. Wow! What's a halftime show? Well, I'm glad you asked. It's where people get together, and there's singing, and there's dancing, and there's music. And it's a chance to show how amazing all different kinds of humans are. Oh, and monsters too, right? Yeah, monsters, aliens. It's one big family, really. And we get to raise some money for children's education. Well, Elmo knows Mr. Chris wants some singing lessons, right? Well, I definitely need some singing lessons from you, and I'd love that. But what I'd really like to ask is if you could help try and find some giant stars to be part of the show. How about Elmo? That is a fantastic idea. What about BTS? Butter, my favorite song. And cookie ingredient. That's a brilliant idea. The only thing is, how do we get hold of BTS? Hi! Wait, who's on the phone, Elmo? BTS. Elmo has them on speed dial. Hey, Elmo! V, RM, Sugar, J-Hope, Jimin, Jungkook, and Jin. Elmo and I were wondering if you guys might want to join us on July 19th. We'll be there, Chris, for sure. Thank you, thank you so much. Okay, okay, okay, okay. We just need one more big star. Did someone say big star? I'd be happy to help. Hey, G, who were you thinking of, Biggie? Me, obviously. This whole show is going to be about me. Good grief. But this show is more about we than me. I mean, it's about togetherness, really. Oh, I love togetherness, yeah. As long as I don't have to share a dressing room. Oh, Chris, will the show have any surprises? Absolutely. Animal. Animal what? Shakira. I mean, we can dream Shakira. Shakira? I mean, I'm sure she's just way too busy. Shakira's in, and she's bringing cookies. Wow. Cookies? Shakira. Cookies. Shakira. Can you believe it? They're doing a halftime show during the World Cup final. That doesn't sound half bad. Well, it doesn't sound half good either. Hey, Stantler and Waldorf, you guys are invited, too. Everyone's invited, right? OK, so let's go. All right, and we'll take it away. Madonna, Shakira, BTS. Oh, my goodness. What an incredible lineup. This year's FIFA World Cup 2026 final halftime performers are Madonna, Shakira, BTS, all curated by Coldplay's Chris Martin. How about that? All right, fellas, let's bring up the chairs. We're going to have a little conversation here all about how this all went down. Thank you, guys. I just want to rewatch that video over and over. It gets me so excited for what's to come. And now I have the distinct pleasure of welcoming two visionaries responsible for this amazing partnership. Please welcome FIFA president Johnny Inventino and co-founder and CEO of Global Citizen, Hugh Evans. Thank you, guys, so much. We also have a little bit of a surprise for everyone here. And as a football fan, I'm a little excited about this one. He is a FIFA World Cup winner with the FIFA World Cup 2026 winner's trophy. It's football legend Kaka. We are also so fortunate to have one of the co-headliners from this historic lineup here with us today. She has dedicated three decades of her career to improving the lives of children all around the world. And she's one of the few artists who's actually built schools. She's worked tirelessly to give children around the world access to quality education. And we are so, so immensely proud that her new song, Die Die, is the official song of the 2026 FIFA World Cup supporting the Global Citizen FIFA Education Fund. The one, the only, the amazing Shakira. All right, how about we take a seat? We'll talk a little football. Well, I guess we do have assigned seats, so. Good evening. I like how Kaka's being very careful. That's very good. Good job. It's so good to see all of you guys. Likewise. Good to see you all. Wow. House is full, huh? Que vivo, Mexico! Shakira, when I think about all the amazing performances you have had throughout your career, it really is incredible to think about. But this is special and unique, a FIFA World Cup final halftime performance. How excited are you about this opportunity? Oh my God, so much. This is amazing. You know, since I was 18, I've spent my entire life doing two things, making songs and building schools. So finally, during this World Cup, those two paths meet, come together, and I'm very excited. I've created the song, Die Die, specifically for this World Cup, but also for so many kids around the world who don't have a voice and who are waiting for an opportunity, kids who don't have access to quality education and kids who are being left behind. So we're planning to reach and we're ready to reach so many of those kids through the FIFA Global Citizen Education Fund. And it is honestly very exciting. Well, along with Global Citizen and FIFA, created this campaign called We Are Ready along with the song. It goes hand in hand with Die Die. And yeah, because we are ready to gather as much help as we can to give all those kids visibility and we're ready to work for their access to quality education. And they are ready, too. They're ready to learn, to grow, to thrive. So I can't wait to be on that stage and I hope that on the world's biggest stage, finally, the importance of investing in education steals the show. Well said. We're so lucky to have you and you have done so much. So truly, thank you for your impact. And Kaká, when I think about you and the game that you love so much, how does it make you feel that you and billions of fans love this game but also we're gonna be supporting children's education along the way? Well, good evening, everyone. So nice to see that a lot of Brazilians are here. Brasil! It's really nice because football is part of my education. So along my whole career, the values of football have been very important for me. So I can use that in my life, with my family. So these values, it's really important and see what FIFA is doing with Citizen, the global Citizen, it's really nice because the World Cup, it's an incredible platform that we can see and we can shout and we can change a lot of these values and use this platform to increase the education. For me, it's a huge and a big impact. So I'm so happy that I'm part of this group that using the World Cup to increase the education around the world. So I wish these kids can have a very good opportunity to go to dream and also we can see some of them playing one day in a big stage like a World Cup. And I know your fans are here. They're here to represent. President Infantino, the FIFA World Cup Final is watched in every corner of the world. Every single person will have their eyes on this World Cup experience. How will this final halftime performance show enhance that experience for your fans? Well, hello everybody, as well from my side, of course. What a blast it is to be here with Shakira. How fantastic is Shakira, isn't it? Come on. I'm okay, I'm okay. Come on. So to organize a World Cup is already incredible. To bring people together from the entire world is fantastic. We'll have seven million people in the stadium. We will have six billion people watching the World Cup and a couple of billion will watch the final. So this is definitely the biggest stage ever. The biggest stage ever where people feel the emotion of the game of football. And we thought we can put together, together with Hugh and many others, Chris Martin, Shakira and others, we can put together music and football. Touch the hearts of the people. And when you look at, I mean, Shakira, Madonna, BTS, in the biggest stage in the world, the day of the World Cup final, the 19th of July, actually here in New York, New Jersey. But when you combine that with the purpose that is even bigger, to make sure that thanks to this, we can raise money to enhance quality education of children all over the world. Well, this makes it really worthwhile and the emotion is even bigger. Emotion is, I'm excited. I'm counting down the days, 66 days. Is that where we're at? I'm counting down. Hugh, you know, when I think of Global Citizen, you truly have produced some of the biggest events, incredible live music events all around the world. Could you take me into the planning of how this halftime show came about? So how it came about was four years ago at the last World Cup, Chris Martin from Coldplay was watching it and he called me right afterwards and he said, wouldn't it be amazing if there could be a halftime show for the World Cup final? And two and a half years ago, I had the honor of meeting Gianni Infantino at FIFA's headquarters in Switzerland. And I'll never forget that meeting because Gianni said to me at the time, he said, Hugh, I want my presidency to be marked by the impact we have on the planet. And he was so true to his word because right after that, Global Citizen and FIFA launched the FIFA Global Citizen Education Fund with the goal of raising $100 million for quality education all over the world. And so far, we've raised $47 million. We announced that today. And... That's amazing. And we announced the first 27 beneficiary organizations, many of whom are in the room here tonight. And thank you for your amazing work. It's so inspiring. And then when Chris Martin and Gianni and I started working together, everyone believed that who better to co-headline than the one and only Shakira. I mean, her song- Let's clap hands for Shakira. I mean, we all know that from Waka Waka through to tonight's song that is about to be released. I mean, it's absolutely extraordinary. And Shakira once said to me, she said, the two things I care about is making music and building schools. And I think that's the heart of what we're doing tonight. You know, we're bringing together this once-in-a-generation opportunity to unite the whole world at once behind this mission of educating millions of children all over the world, bringing together sports, music, at the most incredible moment that will be the most watched event in history, not just the most watched halftime event, but the most watched event in history. And so this is that moment where we can change the world together. And a dollar from every ticket sold to the entire World Cup goes to the FIFA Global Citizen Education Fund. Shakira, I'd love to ask you a little bit more about Dye Dye. The song has over 50 million views on Instagram alone. I have watched many times. I definitely have part of that views. There's a bigger meaning behind the song. Could you please go into the song's meaning? Yes. This song, I think, is much more than a World Cup song. It's a message for every child who's once been told that their dream is too big. And this song also honors football legends like Pele, Ronaldo, Messi. It also mentions you, Kaka. He's mentioning the song. And only to remind us that every champion started as a child who struggled, but didn't give up. And especially when there was someone behind that child who believed in them, who fought for them. And it takes a village to raise a child. It takes all of us to provide our children with the opportunities that they deserve. And that opportunity, the most valuable one that we can offer today is education. I've seen it with my own eyes how education transforms the lives of kids and communities in no time. Kids grow really, really fast. So we have an obligation. We owe it to our kids. And that's why we've all come together. And when I joined the FIFA Education Board, I did it with the hope of also sharing a little bit of the experience that I've gathered throughout the years on working on education. But that's the reason why I think that all of our efforts as all of the sectors of society have to come together for our kids and to put them at the center of the discussion to make sure that they are everyone's priority here in Rio, in Uganda, in Mumbai, in Mexico. These are very troubled times and it's important that we all come together to remember and to remind everyone how important our kids are and their education. And that's why I'm donating 100% of the proceeds of Didi to the FIFA Global Citizen Education Fund. So every time the song plays, starting from tonight at 8 p.m., every time the song plays and every time the video streams, we're all gonna be helping the cause. We're all gonna be providing and creating new opportunities for children around the world. And also, I'm gonna be performing in the U.S. one more time this summer. So I'm gonna be bringing my show to most of the cities where there are gonna be games. So whenever the games are gonna be happening. So the good news is that we're gonna be donating a dollar per ticket sold in all of these shows. So we're trying to do as much as we can to help. But I'm very, very excited. This is a lot of fun. Well done. It's a lot of fun. I mean, the years that I worked on education, it's one of the things that I enjoy the most because you really see the changes. You really see, it's really tangible, you know? So yes, again, I'm really happy to see how investing in education is becoming the center of this World Cup. And hopefully, it'll be a legacy for future World Cups as well. So we continue to grow. We continue to gather more efforts, more money, more resources for kids' education. Well said. Kaka, I'd also like to ask you just, how does football provide children with the life skills to succeed? Well, as I said before, the education is part of my life through football. So values like discipline, teamwork, respect, faith, a lot of them came to my life through football. So that is the importance of football in my life too. So to build my character, to help me in different and difficult situations. So it's really nice to see how football can improve the education of a lot of kids, giving quality of education through the World Cup. So it's really nice. When I say about education, it's good for, I say with a very, like a very important word, because now I have four kids. So it's different ages, from three years old to 17 years old. And I know how important it is, education. So, and there is a big difference between education and teach. So education, it's when we can transfer to them the good values. So when we have this good quality of education, we can transfer for the kids the good values and through football, through music, we can do that. I love this combination between music and football. So you can see all the time that football players go to listen some music, because it's part of our game is to listen some music and put these two platforms together to help the education for me. It's really important. So it was really important for me. So I want to give back this opportunity to different kids. As Shakira just mentioned, in Brazil, we need a lot in Africa. And of course, in Europe, in America, in Asia, everywhere, someone needs a good quality of education. So be part of this, help these kids and give the good quality of education. It's what we can give back to the community right now. And so FIFA is giving this platform to everyone. So everyone that wants to help, sometimes you want to help, but you don't know. So this is a good cause to help now. So you can help, at least in Day Day, you can help buying tickets for the World Cup. So there is many ways to help this great project that we are talking about today. So thank you very much for those that create this project. It's been part of this. It's been really, really nice. And so I think everyone can help in some way. President Infantino, you just passed 10 years as FIFA president, congratulations. Thanks. I'm sure it's flown by, right? Just super easy though. What motivated you to use this year's World Cup and the first ever halftime show to support FIFA's football for schools program? Why this one? Well, you know, as everyone here was saying, we need to, when we are here and when you have a position of responsibility, you want to do everything you can to have a real impact. Now, my job and Hugh's job is to make things happen, but we cannot have a real impact without the commitment, the help, the support, and the passion of legends like Shakira or like Kaka, who are embracing this incredible project. So football itself is a school of life. When you start playing football and a kid, a girl or a boy starts playing football, kicking a ball, she or he starts learning how to behave. You learn that you cannot kick someone, you have to kick the ball. You learn that you cannot touch it with the hands, you have to play it with the rules. There is a referee and you have to respect the decisions and you learn to be a team as well. You learn to win as a team, you learn as well to lose as a team. So you learn to be with others and that's why education is so important. FIFA is present in 211 countries in the world, more than the UN, and this FIFA Global Citizen Education Fund, the objective has been, and this 100 million until the World Cup, but we want to go above that and we want to continue even after the World Cup. We want to raise one billion because it's worthwhile. There are many worthwhile causes in the world, but education is definitely the most important one because it impacts our future and we want children. Not everyone can become Kaka, a world champion, but everyone can become a little bit better by having the right education. So we embrace that, we work on that and we put all our heart and our passion in this project. I love that. Well said, well said. Bye-bye. When people look back on this 2026 FIFA World Cup final, what do you want them to remember from this halftime performance? Well, when I think about this halftime performance and what we want people to remember when they look back, but let me start by saying that the thing that makes this panel so special is that Gianni, Shakira and Kaka are all on the board of the FIFA Global Citizen Education Fund. So they're all responsible for both raising a hundred million dollars and for making sure that grassroots education projects around the world benefit. So when they each speak so passionately, it's because they give of their time so generously. I dream that, yes, the performances of Madonna, Shakira and BTS will be absolutely extraordinary. But my big dream is that in 10 years from now, because I know we get to travel around the world from time to time, I dream that we'll meet that kid in 10 years from now, a young boy or a young girl who's received education through the FIFA Global Citizen Education Fund. It's changed their life, it's lift them out of extreme poverty and they've gone on to make a positive impact for everyone's future. I promise we're close to wrapping up here, but I maybe should have started with this. I want to hear from everyone who you'd like to see play at the final. Kaka? Well, I would like to see Brazil in the final, of course, and I wish Brazil can win another World Cup. I would, I'm Australian by background, so I'd like to see the Socceroos in the final. I guess who I would like to see. I'd like to see Colombia in the finals. Lucho Diaz. You have an opinion over there? Well, I'm the president of FIFA. I'm in charge of handing over this trophy on the 19th of July to the winner of the World Cup. So, you know, I have to be very, very, very careful. I want everyone to be happy, so I say Colombia, Australia, Brazil, United States, and every country in the world. We can say everyone. Thank you all so, so much. I do want to thank President Infantino, Hugh, Kaka, Shakira. Thank you guys so much for being here. Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you all for coming. Thank you. This is going to be one of the world's biggest events with an even bigger purpose. All of the world will be watching, so make sure you are too. And as we wrap up, check out MetLife's footwork for futures activation. You can grab a ball and show off your moves as well. Each video submission will lead to another $5 donation from MetLife for the FIFA Global Citizen Education Fund. And that is a wrap on Global Citizen Now, New York City, 2026. Enjoy the refreshments. Thank you all. We'll see you on the pitch. ♪ Eh, oh, eh, ooh, eh, oh, eh, eh, oh, eh ♪ ♪ You from the day you were born here in this place ♪ ♪ You belong in this place all alone, alone, alone ♪ ♪ What you want, made you strong ♪ ♪ Die, die, ego, let's go, die, ego, darling, let's go ♪ ♪ Die, ego, darling, darling, let's go ♪