NEW YORK (AP) \u2014 A wide array of performers, from actor Tom Cruise to streamer IShowSpeed, will help close out the World Cup, FIFA announced Tuesday.<\/p>\n
Soccer\u2019s governing body released the lineup for the closing ceremony, which will take place 90 minutes before Sunday\u2019s final. The show is meant to \u201ccelebrate the 48 teams\u2019 unforgettable journey\u201d through 16 host cities across three countries, FIFA said in a statement.<\/p>\n
IShowSpeed \u2014 who has streamed multiple matches \u2014 is listed as a performer, while Cruise \u2014 who\u2019s also been spotted in the stands and performed a stunt at the Paris Olympics\u2019 closing ceremony \u2014 is billed as making a \u201cspecial appearance.\u201d The ceremony will also include performances from Laura Pausini, the Italian singer who helped open the Milan Cortina Olympics in February; Tony winner and Pussycat Dolls member Nicole Scherzinger; and Robbie Williams, the British singer and former Take That member.<\/p>\n
Jennifer Hudson, who boasts the coveted EGOT title with an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony, will perform the U.S. national anthem.<\/p>\n
\u201cEchoing the spirit of the opening ceremonies, which welcomed the world to the greatest stage in Canada, Mexico and the United States, the closing ceremony will bring the FIFA World Cup 2026 full circle through music, culture and football, before we kick off the highly anticipated match that will crown the champions of this groundbreaking tournament,\u201d said Heimo Schirgi, the World Cup\u2019s chief operating officer.<\/p>\n
While Sunday will also feature the tournament\u2019s first halftime show, with a bevy of additional A-list performers, closing ceremonies are not exactly new to the World Cup. The closing ceremony is being produced in partnership with Balich Wonder Studio, led by Marco Balich, who orchestrated the 2022 World Cup\u2019s opening and closing ceremonies in Qatar.<\/p>\n
FIFA has encouraged ticketholders to arrive early, promising that fans \u201cwill have an active role to play in the show.\u201d The show begins at 1:30 p.m. at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, and kickoff is at 3 p.m.<\/p>\n
___<\/p>\n
See more of AP\u2019s World Cup coverage here <\/p>\n
The Associated Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEW YORK (AP) \u2014 A wide array of performers, from actor Tom Cruise to streamer IShowSpeed, will help…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":801999,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[76,49,48,361,75,77,890,82],"class_list":["post-801998","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-arts","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-celebrities","tag-entertainment","tag-international","tag-lifestyle","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/801998","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=801998"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/801998\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/801999"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=801998"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=801998"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=801998"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}