BLACKPINK’s Lisa joins Katy Perry, Future, Tyla and more for the 2026 FIFA World Cup opening ceremony at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles on June 12
FIFA made it official on May 9. BLACKPINK’s Lisa will perform at the 2026 FIFA World Cup opening ceremony in the United States, joining a headline lineup that includes Katy Perry, Future, Tyla, Rema, Anitta, and DJ Sanjoy at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California on June 12. The announcement confirms what had been widely anticipated since Lisa’s Coachella 2026 appearance reinforced her standing as one of the most globally bankable performers in music. For the Thai-born K-pop star, the booking is a milestone. She becomes the first female artist from a K-pop group to perform at a FIFA World Cup opening ceremony.
The 2026 tournament is itself historic. For the first time in FIFA history, three separate opening ceremonies will be staged across the three co-host nations on consecutive days, framing what FIFA is calling a connected cultural trilogy. Mexico kicks things off at Estadio Azteca in Mexico City on June 11, while Canada’s ceremony at BMO Field in Toronto runs concurrently with the US event on June 12, just before its own opening match. The Los Angeles show carries the heaviest commercial and cultural weight of the three, opening the US’s first match against Paraguay.
A Lineup Designed to Reflect America’s Cultural Reach
FIFA President Gianni Infantino framed the US lineup in explicitly cultural terms. “This opening ceremony in Los Angeles represents the extraordinary scale of what the FIFA World Cup 2026 will become,” he said in a statement. “The lineup of artists reflects the cultural diversity of the United States and the vibrancy of its many diasporas, highlighting the nation’s rich influence on music, entertainment, and pop culture, while showcasing the power of music to bring people together across the country.”
The roster bears that thesis out. Katy Perry represents mainstream American pop. Future anchors hip-hop. Tyla brings Afrobeats. Rema connects to Nigeria’s global streaming surge. Anitta covers Latin America. Lisa carries K-pop and Southeast Asian representation into one of sport’s most-watched stages.
The ceremony itself will run for 13 minutes, a tight window for a lineup of this breadth. Lisa is also reportedly preparing to contribute to an official World Cup soundtrack alongside Anitta, Rema, and Brazilian music group Tropkillaz, extending her involvement beyond the single performance slot.
The K-pop World Cup Moment, Continued
The precedent for this moment was set at Qatar 2022, when BTS member Jungkook performed the official World Cup anthem ‘Dreamers’ at the opening ceremony, drawing a global television audience and significantly raising the profile of K-pop in sports entertainment crossover spaces. Lisa’s booking follows that template but expands it. Where Jungkook performed a purpose-built anthem, Lisa joins a multi-artist bill as a headline act on her own terms, drawing from a solo catalogue that has already demonstrated its commercial reach, with ‘Lalisa’ and ‘Money’ establishing her independently of the BLACKPINK group context.
The 2026 World Cup will be the largest in the tournament’s history, featuring 48 teams across 16 host cities in three countries. The Los Angeles ceremony on June 12 opens at SoFi Stadium, one of the most technologically advanced venues in North America, and sets the tone for a summer of football that FIFA has positioned as its most ambitious cultural statement yet. Lisa is a fitting emblem of exactly that ambition.
