The World Cup finally got its own Super Bowl style halftime show, and reviews are genuinely split

[Quasar Vulture]

FIFA staged its first ever World Cup final halftime show on Sunday, curated by Coldplay's Chris Martin, stretching the usual 15 minute break to a full 27 minutes to accommodate an 11 minute performance plus staging setup and teardown. The lineup was genuinely enormous for a single halftime slot, Madonna, Justin Bieber, Shakira, K-pop group BTS, Nigerian artist Burna Boy, conductor Gustavo Dudamel, the Muppets, and even a cameo from Jason Sudeikis reprising his Ted Lasso character to introduce Bieber

The show leaned heavily on callbacks to moments from earlier in the tournament, orchestral musicians recreated the viral Norwegian row celebration, and Congolese superfan Michel Nkuka Mboladinga, known for performing as a living statue honoring assassinated independence leader Patrice Lumumba, made an appearance too. It closed with a group of children gathered at midfield joined by several performers for a song about love

Reaction was genuinely mixed rather than uniformly positive. Some outlets favorably compared it to the most recent Super Bowl halftime show, arguing this performance had more energy and was easier to actually follow along with. Others were far more critical, one review argued the sheer number of A-list names crammed into such a short slot became the show's biggest weakness, so much happened on screen at once that it was described as giving viewers whiplash trying to follow it all, ultimately landing as too scattered and safe to feel genuinely memorable despite the star power on display

On the specific concerns your question raises, there wasn't any reported injury risk tied to the show itself, the pitch was covered with a tarp during the performance and uncovered again before play resumed, a standard precaution rather than something that caused any documented problem. The bigger practical gripe came from how long players were left waiting, Messi, Lamine Yamal and the rest of both squads sat around for the better part of half an hour between playing actions, a real departure from a normal 15 minute break and something that could plausibly affect a team's rhythm coming out for the second half, even if neither side pointed to it directly as a factor in how the match actually played out

The World Cup's First Halftime Show Did Too Much and Meant Too Littletime.com

[BringItOnRhodes43]

27 minutes instead of the usual 15 is a significant change to match rhythm, hard to imagine that doesn't affect at least some players' focus and physical readiness coming back out for the second half

[Louise84]

The callback moments, the Norwegian row and the Lumumba tribute performer, were honestly a nice touch, gave the whole thing a sense of actually being about this specific tournament rather than just a generic celebrity lineup slapped in the middle

[Rosie_81]

Cramming Madonna, BTS, Shakira and Bieber all into one short slot does sound like it would be genuinely hard to follow, sometimes fewer acts with more time each lands better than trying to fit everyone in

[Frost Hermit]

No reported injury risk is reassuring, but the pure logistics of tarping and untarping a pitch mid match for a full production number is still a bigger operational undertaking than most people probably appreciate

[Outlaw]

The mixed reviews feel about right honestly, more energy than the recent Super Bowl show doesn't necessarily mean it was actually good on its own terms, those are two different bars to clear

[SpinState22]

Curious if FIFA sticks with this format for the next World Cup or scales it back given how split the reaction has been, a first attempt drawing this much criticism might make them rethink the scale next time around

[Orca]

Half an hour of standing around for players used to a tight 15 minute turnaround is the part that would worry me most as a coach, that's a real risk to momentum regardless of how good or bad the show itself actually was

[Quarry44]

Wayne Rooney said it best . It was ?

[EdgeRatedR]

First ever World Cup final halftime show and they went with 30 minutes? Bold. The energy was there, but it felt like FIFA saw the Super Bowl and decided to do everything bigger without understanding why the 15-minute format works. The Super Bowl show is tight, punchy, and doesn't overstay its welcome. This felt like a concert that lost its rhythm halfway through. Some of the performances were genuinely great, but the pacing was all over the place. The idea is solid - football deserves a spectacle - but the execution needs work. Maybe next time they'll trust the sport to carry more of the weight.

[Scholar]

The mixed reviews are spot on because the show was genuinely split. First half was electric - the crowd was into it, the performers were hitting their marks, and it felt like a proper celebration. Then it dragged. You could see people in the stadium checking their phones, the energy dipping. That's halftime show death. The Super Bowl comparison is inevitable, but unfair. The Super Bowl has decades of institutional knowledge. This was FIFA's first attempt. They'll learn. The question is whether they'll trim it back to 15 minutes or double down on the "bigger is better" approach. My guess: they'll do both depending on who you ask in FIFA HQ.

[Canopy]

Going to disagree with the "naff/rubbish" take a bit. Yeah, it was overlong, but calling it a waste of time ignores what this means for the tournament. The World Cup is more than just football - it's a global cultural event. Having a halftime show signals that. It's FIFA saying "we're not just a sport, we're entertainment." That's a good thing, even if the execution was clunky. The performances themselves were solid. Chris Martin curating was a smart choice - he knows how to bring people together. The problem was the runtime, not the content. Give me a tight 15-minute version of this and I'm happy. The potential is there.

[CodeOracle11]

The 30-minute runtime is the real issue. Fifteen minutes is perfect - enough for a few songs, a big finish, and you're back to the tension of the match. Thirty minutes is a concert. By the time the second half started, the emotional momentum from the first half was gone. You could feel it in the stadium. The players looked like they'd cooled down too much. That's on FIFA. The halftime show should serve the match, not compete with it. The Super Bowl gets this. The show is a break, not the main event. FIFA seemed to forget that the actual football is why 2 billion people are watching. Still, first attempt. They'll figure it out. Maybe.

[Theo90]

Last post about the cultural moment is key. The Super Bowl halftime show is a thing because American football has natural breaks and the Super Bowl is a de facto national holiday. The World Cup final doesn't need that. The whole tournament is the cultural moment. Adding a halftime show feels like FIFA saw the Super Bowl's global TV numbers and thought "we need that too." But the World Cup already has it. The show was redundant. Still, can't fault the effort. Chris Martin, the performers, the production crew - they all delivered. The problem was the decision to extend to 30 minutes. That's a FIFA exec somewhere thinking longer equals better. It doesn't. Fifteen minutes, high energy, back to the match. That's the formula. They'll learn. Eventually.

[Zoe]

Tangent: the Super Bowl halftime show works because it's a cultural moment in America. Everyone's watching, even if they don't care about football. The World Cup final already has that globally without needing a halftime show. Adding one feels like FIFA saw the Super Bowl's cultural impact and thought the show was the reason, not the audience. The audience was already there. The show was... extra. That said, the performers clearly put work into this. The dancers, the production value, the staging - all top tier. It just didn't match the moment. The football was the show. The halftime thing was an intermission that went on too long.

[DarkAvenger45]

Hot take: the halftime show was fine, but the real problem is FIFA trying to Americanize the World Cup. The Super Bowl model doesn't translate. Football has its own rhythm, its own culture. The idea that the World Cup needed a halftime show to be complete is peak FIFA arrogance. The tournament was already the biggest sporting event on the planet before this. It didn't need the extra gloss. That said, the performers didn't deserve the backlash. They showed up, gave it their all, and produced something that was, by most accounts, energetically superior to recent Super Bowl shows. The issue was the concept, not the execution. Next time, trim it, trust the sport, and let the football breathe.