Who is singing the national anthems at the 2026 World Cup final? Here are the performers at MetLife Stadium

Spain booked its spot in Sunday's World Cup final after beating France 2-0, with Argentina securing its place thanks to that dramatic comeback over England.

The biggest game in global soccer will feature the reigning champions of South America and Spain, with an inaugural halftime show providing a break in the action, making this one of the grandest sporting spectacles the United States has ever hosted.

Before any of that kicks off at MetLife Stadium, though, there's a full pre-match production planned, headlined by one of the biggest voices in American music.

Here's who's been announced to perform the national anthems.

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Who is singing the national anthems at the 2026 World Cup final?

Jennifer Hudson has been confirmed to sing a special rendition of "The Star-Spangled Banner" before kickoff on July 19, a ceremonial nod to the United States' role as a co-host nation even though the U.S. team didn't make it to the final. Hudson, who broke through on "American Idol" over two decades ago, recently performed "God Bless America" at this year's MLB All-Star Game.

The rest of the pre-match show is built around FIFA's official tournament anthem, "Desire," performed by Robbie Williams alongside Nicole Scherzinger and Italian singer Laura Pausini, plus a closing ceremony featuring a "special appearance" from Tom Cruise and a slot for streamer iShowSpeed. The match itself will also feature the first-ever halftime show at a men's World Cup final, curated by Coldplay's Chris Martin and co-headlined by Justin Bieber, Madonna, Shakira and BTS.

The national anthems for Spain and Argentina are due to be performed in the usual pre-match format, with recordings played over the stadium sound system.

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What time does the World Cup final start?

The final kicks off at 3 p.m. ET on Sunday, July 19, at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, with the closing ceremony beginning 90 minutes earlier.

It's the 104th and last match of the first 48-team World Cup, and the first men's final hosted in the United States since 1994.

Are there usually performers singing the World Cup final national anthems?

Not like this, no. World Cup matches traditionally treat the competing nations' anthems as a simple pre-match formality, typically played and sung by the teams and crowd themselves rather than handed to a hired celebrity vocalist, closer to how anthems are handled at most soccer matches worldwide than the American tradition of a featured singer.

FIFA has leaned on official tournament songs for years, from Ricky Martin's "Cup of Life" in 1998 to Shakira's "Waka Waka" in 2010, but those are separate promotional anthems, not stand-ins for the competing teams' actual national anthems. Hudson performing "The Star-Spangled Banner," alongside the tournament's first ever men's final halftime show, reflects how much this final borrows from American sports presentation, rather than how FIFA has typically staged the anthem moment in the past.