FIFA breaks promise to Spain and Argentina over World Cup half-time show

FIFA had promised Spain and Argentina that the World Cup half-time show would last 17 minutes (Getty)

FIFA

went against its promise of a shortened

World Cup

half-time show with Spain and Argentina’s players forced to spend extra time in the dressing room.

In response to concerns that the World Cup half-time show could last for 30 minutes,

FIFA contacted the Spanish and Argentinian football associations this week

to confirm that the half-time break would last a total of 17 minutes, only two minutes longer than usual.

FIFA said that six minutes would be dedicated to the assembly and dismantling of the stage on the pitch, while the show itself would be reduced into an 11-minute block.

However, from the half-time whistle to the start of the second half, the entire World Cup half-time break at the MetLife Stadium lasted 27 minutes and 24 seconds, far beyond FIFA’s promise to Spain and Argentina.

According to Opta’s statistics, the half-time show lasted just two minutes less than the amount of time the ball was in play during the first half.

In a first ever for a World Cup final, the Super Bowl-inspired half-time show featured Madonna, Justin Bieber, Shakira, Burna Boy and K-pop boyband BTS.

Madonna opened the World Cup show alongside Ronaldinho and Ronaldo (PA Wire)

Justin Bieber slowed the tempo of the half-time show with his song (PA Wire)

Brazil World Cup winners Ronaldo and Ronaldinho also made a surprise appearance during Madonna’s opening song.

However, the extended show breached the maximum time of 15 minutes for a half-time break, which is permitted under the International FA Board’s (IFAB) Laws of the Game.

In last year’s

Club World Cup

final where

Chelsea

beat Paris Saint-Germain at the MetLife Stadium, FIFA’s half-time show lasted 24 minutes following performances from Coldplay, J Balvin, Doja Cat, Tems and Emmanuel Kelly.

Shakira livened up the show after Justin Bieber’s effort (Shutterstock)

K-pop boyband BTS delivered an energetic display (PA Wire)

In 2021, CONMEBOL, the governing body of football in South America, wanted to extend the maximum half-time length to 25 minutes but that was rejected by IFAB due to the ‘negative impact on player welfare and safety resulting from a longer period of inactivity’.

Then in 2024, CONMEBOL produced a half-time show for the Copa America final between Argentina and Colombia, which lasted around 25 minutes.

‘I think the half-time for the final should be 15 minutes because those are the rules,’ Colombia head coach Nestor Lorenzo said before his side’s 1-0 defeat to Argentina in the final.

‘But now apparently, because there’s going to be a concert, we’ll be walking back out 20 to 25 minutes later. This could affect the players’ fitness, they could cool down too much. Those minutes of recovery in the dressing room… people don’t understand what it takes to reach those levels.’

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