Four years ago, Lionel Messi lifted the Fifa World Cup in Qatar in front of a stunned Lusail Stadium. On Sunday, the trophy changes hands again, but this time, the send-off promises to be unlike anything football has seen before. The curtain comes down on the 2026 FIFA World Cup at the New York New Jersey Stadium on July 19, and organisers have lined up not one but two separate spectacles: a pre-match closing ceremony and, for the first time in World Cup history, an actual halftime show during the final itself. Between the two, the guest list reads more like a Grammy after-party than a football send-off.
