FIFA lists six opening ceremony stars

FIFA did in fact publish the six-name lineup people were passing around online — and the key detail is that it’s only one piece of a much bigger opening plan. Katy Perry, Future, Anitta, LISA, Rema and Tyla are booked for the United States opening ceremony in Los Angeles on Friday, 12 June. But this is not the single opening show people are used to from past World Cups. FIFA is staging three separate opening ceremonies across North America for the 2026 tournament. ### So what exactly did FIFA announce? FIFA’s May 8 release laid it out pretty plainly: Los Angeles will host a “spectacular opening celebration” for the U.S. leg of the tournament, and those six artists are the headliners. The date matters here — Friday, 12 June, not the first match of the entire tournament. That’s why some social posts made the lineup sound broader than it is. (fifa.com) ### Wait — isn’t the World Cup opening in Mexico? Yes. The tournament itself begins on Thursday, 11 June, in Mexico City, where Mexico faces South Africa in the opening match. FIFA also announced a separate opening ceremony there, built around performers tied to the official World Cup album, including Alejandro Fernández, Belinda, Danny Ocean, J Balvin, Lila Downs, Los Ángeles Azules, Maná and Tyla. (fifa.com) ### Why is Tyla on both lists? Because FIFA is treating the launch like a rolling festival, not a one-night event. Tyla appears in the Mexico City lineup and the Los Angeles lineup, which suggests FIFA wants at least a little continuity between the different ceremonies while still tailoring each show to its host market. That last part is an inference, but it fits the way the announcements are structured. (fifa.com) ### Where does Canada fit in? Canada gets its own opening ceremony too — in Toronto on Friday, 12 June, 90 minutes before kick-off. FIFA named Alanis Morissette, Alessia Cara, Elyanna, Jessie Reyez, Michael Bublé, Nora Fatehi, Sanjoy, Vegedream and William Prince for that show. So the real story is not “FIFA picked six stars.” It’s “FIFA built three different opening rosters for three host countries.” (fifa.com) ### Why is FIFA doing it this way? Basically, because 2026 is a different kind of World Cup. It’s the first men’s tournament with 48 teams, the first hosted by three countries, and the first stretched across 104 matches. A single opening ceremony would undersell that setup. Three ceremonies let FIFA localize the spectacle while still selling one giant continental event. ### Why Los Angeles for the U.S. show? (fifa.com) FIFA’s own framing is that Los Angeles is the “world’s entertainment capital,” which tells you the intent. This one is meant to be the most overtly pop-facing ceremony of the three. The artist mix backs that up — mainstream pop, rap, K-pop, Afrobeats and Latin pop, all aimed at a global audience rather than a narrow soccer crowd. (fifa.com) ### So were the viral posts wrong? Not exactly — but they were incomplete. The six names were real and officially announced. The missing context is that they were confirmed for the U.S. opening ceremony in Los Angeles, not as the only performers for the entire World Cup kickoff. Once you add Mexico City and Toronto, the picture changes a lot. ### Bottom line? (fifa.com) The rumor turned out to be grounded in a real FIFA announcement. But the bigger news is the format shift: the 2026 World Cup is opening with three ceremonies across three countries, and FIFA is using music to make that scale feel intentional.