Lisa joins Katy Perry, Future and Tyla at SoFi for FIFA World Cup 2026 opener

FIFA has confirmed the headline line-up for the Los Angeles opening ceremony of the 2026 men’s World Cup: Lisa from BLACKPINK, Katy Perry, Anitta, Rema, Future, Tyla and DJ Sanjoy. The thirteen-minute show will run inside SoFi Stadium roughly ninety minutes before the United States men’s national team takes on Paraguay. The booking is the first time a female K-pop soloist has been included on the official opening bill — a small line in a press release that recodes how Korean pop is now slotted into the most-watched sporting event on earth.

Lisa is also the first Thai artist on a tournament opener. Together those two firsts settle a question that has dragged through the genre for a decade: whether K-pop’s global pull is real beyond fan-base mobilisation, or whether the largest sports broadcasters would keep treating Korean acts as a regional curiosity. With Lisa alongside Katy Perry and a slate that includes African pop’s Rema and Tyla and Brazil’s Anitta, FIFA has framed the LA ceremony as a global-South and global-East showcase rather than a US-centric warm-up.

The K-pop precedent at a World Cup is exactly one. BTS member Jungkook performed the official soundtrack Dreamers at the previous men’s tournament in Qatar. The SoFi booking treats Lisa as a co-headliner rather than a soundtrack guest. This is also the first World Cup to run three opening ceremonies across three host cities: Mexico City at Estadio Azteca with Maná, Alejandro Fernández, Belinda, Los Ángeles Azules, plus a J Balvin and Tyla appearance; Toronto with Michael Bublé, Alanis Morissette, Alessia Cara, Jessie Reyez, Nora Fatehi, Elyanna and Vegedream; and Los Angeles.

The headlines come with caveats. Thirteen minutes across seven acts means each performer gets under two minutes of stage time, most of it likely cued against pre-recorded visuals rather than full songs. FIFA has not confirmed the official tournament soundtrack, and the persistent report that Lisa, Anitta, Rema and Brazilian production trio Tropkillaz are working on a track together remains unconfirmed by the parties. The booking does not address the long-standing complaint that World Cup curation leans on a small handful of global-pop names while ignoring the indie scenes of the host countries.

For most MCM markets the ceremony will be available through whichever local broadcaster holds tournament rights, which is global by design. The match-day ticket allocation for the LA opener runs through FIFA’s own sales platform; Mexico City and Toronto have separate ticket batches. The musical bill is the same regardless of which broadcast feed a viewer joins.

FIFA President Gianni Infantino described the LA programme as a reflection of the United States’ cultural diversity and the vibrancy of its many diasporas. The Mexico City ceremony plays first on June 11. The LA and Toronto ceremonies share June 12. The USA-Paraguay match kicks off shortly after the SoFi show, when the United States men’s team will play the first competitive home opener of a tournament it is co-hosting.