Overview
- On Sunday, July 19, streamer Darren Watkins Jr., known as IShowSpeed, opened the closing ceremony at MetLife Stadium before the final between Spain and Argentina.
- FIFA added his June 1 single “World Cup (Champions)” to the official 2026 album after a viral social-media exchange in which he tagged the organization and FIFA replied that it would be in touch.
- The pre-match program featured a wide celebrity lineup including Post Malone, Tom Cruise, Robbie Williams, Laura Pausini and Nicole Scherzinger, while a separate Super-Bowl-style halftime set curated by Chris Martin included Madonna, Justin Bieber, Shakira and BTS to raise funds for the FIFA Global Citizen Education Fund.
- Watkins had worked with FIFA, Fox Sports and YouTube to livestream tournament coverage for U.S. viewers, and video from a July 3 Argentina vs Cape Verde match showing a racist comment directed at him prompted FIFA to open an investigation announced on July 7.
- Organizers see the inclusion of a major online creator as a way to broaden the World Cup’s audience, but the episode underscores real governance challenges for FIFA in policing crowd conduct and enforcing its anti-discrimination rules.