Access to Quality Education Underpinned the 2026 World Cup

The first ever World Cup Final Halftime Show featured performances by Madonna, BTS, Coldplay, and Shakira.Official White House Photo by Andrea Hanks, via Wikimedia Commons

A month of football came to a head at the MetLife Stadium in New Jersey on Saturday 19^th July as Spain beat Argentina in a one-hundred-and-twenty-minute battle of endurance. The 2026 FIFA World Cup was one of firsts; a new 48 country format, three host-nations (the United States, Mexico, and Canada), and numerous records broken throughout the tournament. One of the most notable firsts was the addition of a star-studded halftime show at the Final on Saturday, featuring performances by the likes of Madonna, Coldplay, BTS, and The Muppets House Band.

Underpinning the spectacle, however, was something much more poignant than entertainment. Each performance in the halftime show was in support of the FIFA Global Citizen’s Education Fund. The fund was set up in the hopes of raising USD $100 million for quality education and sports for children across the globe through donations and various fundraising efforts.

The halftime performance featured the 2026 World Cup anthem Dia Dia (We’re Ready!), written and performed by singer-songwriters Shakira and Burna Boy. The song was created in tandem with a campaign called We Are Ready; only one facet of the Education Fund. Shakira has pledged her royalties from Dia Dia to the fund and Sony Music is to match the first USD 250,000 raised in a donation.

Shakira performs 'Dia Dia (We're Ready!), the 2026 FIFA World Cup at the Halftime Show, July 19, 2026.Official White House Photo by Daniel Torok, via Wikimedia Commons

“Since I was 18, I’ve spent my entire life doing two things: making songs and building schools. Finally, during this World Cup, those two paths come together,” Shakira shared in an interview with NBCLA. “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. 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.[1]

The artist joined the FIFA Global Citizen’s Education Fund’s Advisory Board alongside numerous leaders in sports, business, and entertainment, including the likes of Serena Williams and Hugh Jackman.

Shakira is known as much for her philanthropic efforts and fierce advocacy of quality education as she is for her music. Following her first international success in 1997 she founded The Fundación Pies Descalzos (Barefoot Foundation), a Colombian charity tackling poverty and access to quality education for youth across the country. She has been a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador since 2003, a representative of the UN children’s agency for over twenty years and has championed countless other organisations fighting for children and women’s rights.

The 2026 World Cup united nations, spotlit a host of cultures and traditions, and is set to impact more than 100,000 children across the globe. With 272 million children currently without access to education (UNESCO), there is much to be done to make quality education more accessible. Through the FIFA Global Citizen’s Education Fund, steps are being taken to begin to tackle this issue and there is hope that by the next world cup high-quality education will be much more widely available. But for now, the summer of 2026 will have been about much more than football. 

Learn more about The Barefoot Foundation here.