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As we edge closer to June, we draw nearer to yet another World Cup marred by controversy. The 2022 competition drew criticism for its host Qatar’s alleged use of slave labour in constructing their stadiums, as well as the event being rescheduled to winter dates. This year’s tournament, which kicks off on the 11th of June, is hosted jointly in the USA, Canada and Mexico. Since Donald Trump’s re-election in 2025, the US has grappled with political assassinations, violence on the streets involving the nation’s immigration authority (ICE), and the ongoing conflict with Iran which has created a global oil crisis. These factors, ­coupled­ with Trump’s tariff-posturing with allied nations, anecdotes of foreign nationals being deported for social media posts, and grossly inflated ticket prices for the World Cup games, have led to many fans in the UK and abroad to approach travelling to the US this summer with apprehension.

But as the biggest television spectacle in sport, the World Cup Final routinely draws several billion viewers from all around the globe, and this year’s final is advertised by organisers FIFA as the biggest ever. In 2024, the association announced a final halftime show, inspired by American Football and the NFL’s Superbowl entertainment. While this choice was met with sceptic cries that it would contaminate football’s traditions with American commercialisation, the plans continued with Coldplay frontman Chris Martin heading up the selection process.

FIFA announced the lineup for the halftime extravaganza today with a light-hearted trailer starring Chris Martin, Sesame Street characters Elmo and the Cookie Monster, and several stars from The Muppets including Kermit and Miss Piggy. The ensemble of one of the UK’s most popular singers and the US’s most famous puppets revealed a billing of pop queen Madonna, K-Pop sensations BTS, and Latin songstress Shakira. President of FIFA Gianni Infantino was quoted in the announcement as saying “Madonna, Shakira and BTS are global icons whose music transcends borders and generations, and we are proud to welcome them to the first-ever FIFA World Cup Final Halftime Show curated by Chris Martin of Coldplay.”

The halftime show will support FIFA’s Global Citizen Education Fund, their initiative whose goal for the event is to raise $100 million for sponsoring education and football opportunities for the world’s children. Madonna, who has a vast history of philanthropic work, said “Performing at the World Cup final in support of the FIFA Global Citizen Education Fund is deeply meaningful to me. Without education, children are denied opportunity before they even have a chance. Every child deserves access to a quality learning — because education expands possibilities and creates lasting change.” Remarks also came from Shakira, who is a board member of the Global Citizen Education Fund and previously had a hit with 2010 World Cup single ‘Waka Waka (This Time For Africa)’. She says “I’ve spent my life doing two things — making songs and building schools. At the FIFA World Cup, those two paths come together. Standing alongside Madonna and BTS, I’ll be performing ‘Dai Dai’, the song I created for this World Cup and for the kids around the world we will reach with the FIFA Global Citizen Education Fund. My hope is that on the world’s biggest stage, the importance of investing in children’s education steals the show!”

The FIFA World Cup Halftime Show has been produced by Global Citizen, with partners Live Nation and Done + Dusted. You can catch Madonna, BTS, Shakira, and the stars of Sesame Street and The Muppets on the 19th of July, when the final airs from the MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey.

As part of his new role, the former Take That singer has written and recorded a new track for the upcoming FIFA Men’s Club World Cup, named ‘Desire’. The track will be played ahead of all tournament matches as the teams walk out onto the pitch. The song was written with the help of Karl Brazil, Erik Jan Grob and Owen Parker, with Grammy Award-winning Italian singer Laura Pausini featuring on the vocals. It marks the first official anthem commissioned by FIFA, and will be featured in all FIFA tournaments, including the 2026 World Cup.

The 2025 FIFA Club World Cup kicks off at 1am UK time tomorrow, 15 June, with the song debuting alongside a music video, displayed on the jumbotron screens of Miami’s Hard Rock Stadium.

Speaking about his new ambassador role, Robbie Williams states in a press release: “Music and football bring people together like nothing else — each with their own universal language of connection, emotion, spirit and community. When those worlds come together, there’s nothing like it — and I’m beyond honoured to be the FIFA Music Ambassador. Football and music have both been part of my life for as long as I can remember, so this means a lot to me on a personal level.

“Football and music have always meant the world to me, and bringing them together on this kind of stage gives me goosebumps. I know I’ll get to perform this song at some of my favourite tournaments in the coming years, which fills me with excitement. It’s a real honour that Laura Pausini accepted my invitation to feature on the song – she’s an incredible artist with the perfect voice.

“I’ve grown up watching the walk-outs, the anthems, the drama – so writing and recording the official FIFA anthem is a real privilege. I wanted to create something that captures all of it — the passion, the nerves, the pride and the majesty of that feeling just before kick-off.”

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A post shared by Gianni Infantino – FIFA President (@gianni_infantino)

In a video shared to social media, FIFA President Gianni Infantino discusses the new track, describing it as: “Absolutely fantastic. Incredible, beautiful, it’s exactly what we were looking for.” He goes on to say that ‘Desire’ is “Our song. The world’s song. The football song,” adding that it will perfectly set the mood for the Club World Cup.

In the same video, Laura Pausini comments: “The track’s energy really captures the spirit of football, and I can’t wait for the world to hear the song during the opening match.”

Williams has worked with FIFA previously, though not without controversy. In 2018’s Men’s World Cup in Moscow, Russia, Robbie Williams stuck up his middle finger to the camera during his performance at the opening ceremony, causing U.S. broadcaster Fox to issue an apology. Currently, Robbie Williams is in the midst of his ‘Britpop’ tour, wrapping up the UK leg this evening in Bath’s Royal Crescent. ‘Britpop’ is due to release later this year.

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The FIFA Men’s Club World Cup will be available to watch on Channel 5 from midnight, and will open with Egypt’s Al Ahly facing local team Inter Miami.

Click here for more MXDWN coverage on Robbie Williams and his ‘Britpop’ tour.

Reason to Smile will feature two singles of his that have already been released, “War Outside” featuring Lex Amor, and “Gangsta”. The former track “War Outside” garnered wider attention earlier this year after featuring on the most recent FIFA soundtrack, promoting his listenership far beyong UK borders. Watch the video for “War Outside” below:

Kojey Radical has been a big name in UK music for a while. The track “Cashmere Tears” became a huge hit, resonating with fans beyond UK rap for its late-night chill beat, with the lyrics “I like that” almost becoming his signature. Appearing alongside UK rap legend Ghetts, he featured on the massive “Bad After We”, taken from Shy FX’s Raggamuffin Soundtape. The versatility in his voice to seduce and sedate on one track to growl and scare on another has made him an interesting figure in UK rap, a vocal style similar to Backroad Gee. It will be interesting to see how he balances these energies on the upcoming project, or whether he ditches the scare tactics entirely for a broader sound.

Judging by the two aforementioned singles, “War Outside” and “Gangsta”, we can infer that he is trying to land a middle ground between the chill vibes we heard on tracks like “Cashmere Tears” and the club vibes akin to artists like Kaytranada. Indeed, “War Outside” reads much like a Kaytranada track, with squelchy bass-beats, shuffling hi-hats, and glistening keys. He has always had this tendency for club-like beats, as seen on his track “Selfish” from his early EP 23 Winters. That EP also contained some dark and heavy tracks, like “Rents Due”, a beat that would instill the fear of God into any man. This is the kind of versatility we have come to expect from Kojey from the very beginning, and the kind we’d expect in plentiful supply on his upcoming album.

Though a speculative point, one can expect something on the harder side with a feature from Cashh, who, on his most recent album Return of the Immigrant, included some drill beats. Especially from Wretch 32, we’d be expecting Kojey to get a bit grimey with it. But we never know; Cashh may want to bang a hook, Wretch might be spitting some chill bars. We will have to wait and see, and I’m sure many fans are waiting with baited breath for a debut LP from such a UK heavyweight.

The video depicts Templeman, and a series of others, performing slightly weird, overly colourful activities with the most laid-back attitude, as if the natural way to eat cornflakes was to fill your mouth with cereal and then pour the milk in. It has that slow, high-quality editorial feeling about it, but what we’re mostly watching is Templeman pretending to drum with massive cucumbers. It toes a great line between conceptual, and just having a great time in a studio with a quilted green backdrop. Really, it all looks like fun.

According to Templeman, ‘Forever Isn’t Long Enough’ was ultimately inevitable. In a statement, he wrote, “some days I can’t stop thinking about how short life is and how you only have so much time to spend with the ones you love. Honestly I’ve made so many songs with the titles ‘Forever Isn’t Long Enough’ but this one felt the most meaningful.” Incidentally, the intense colour that is pervasive throughout ‘Forever Isn’t Long Enough’ functions as a metaphor for the passing of time, and it all weaves together into one big semi-existential, semi-irreverent, cucumber-y experience.

Succinctly, Templeman added to his statement, “I’m still way too young to give anyone life advice but this track to me is about how I’ve noticed that the further away you are from your memories, the closer they are to your heart.”

‘Forever Isn’t Long Enough’ comes hot on the heels of Templeman’s EP Happiness In Liquid Form. Templeman’s talent grows all the time; what is so exciting about Happiness In Liquid Form is that it plays with all the conventions of indie pop as we know it, to produce music that sounds like something and also like nothing you’ve ever heard before. I dare you to find a good comparison for ‘Things I Thought Were Mine’ (a great song name). It’s catchy, electronic, and a touch like a video game all at once. Templeman can hardly stop growing his talent and developing his aesthetic.

Monday evening was probably pretty great in Alfie Templeman’s house. His new single was the hottest record in the world. And the FIFA 21 soundtrack was announced, featuring Templeman’s ‘Wish I Was Younger’ from Happiness In Liquid Form.

seriously a big thank you from the bottom of my heart to all the people that have never heard of my stuff and are willing to give it a listen thanks to fifa, means a lot. was really nervous about this and wanted to make sure the track was indie and a lil old school for fifa fans https://t.co/hJtRqL1IcC

— alfie templeman (@alfietempleman) September 28, 2020

He is in good company. FIFA 21’s soundtrack also features Dua Lipa, Tame Impala, Royal Blood, Biig Piig, Glass Animals – et cetera. FIFA also announced a second soundtrack, ‘Volta’, which will specifically showcase grime, electronic and hip hop music. But back to Alfie – Dork’s October 2020 cover boy is featuring on the most famous playlists and radio shows in the world, and he’s only getting started.