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Some big artists have been named for the inaugural ceremony of the big football tournament that is going to happen in Qatar today (20th November). With every FIFA tournament, the glamor of the music being part of it right before the kick-off is getting more serious or at least stacked up with more and more celebrities. And this time too it is no different.

Like always, FIFA, this time, too, has made it mandatory for all major television networks and streaming platforms to broadcast the musicals through their channels, online streams, and mobile apps.

The ceremony which is set to happen at the Al Bayt stadium an hour before the opening game is expected to have a performance from an Indian based Moroccon Canadian singer, dancer, and performer Norah Fatehi along with various other artists including BTS’ Jungkook, Black Eyed Peas, and J Balvin, among others. Read further to know what other celebrities are scheduled to perform at the opening ceremony.

Patrick Nnaemeka Okorie

Okorie is a confirmed artist among others to hold the mic at the opening ceremony of the FIFA World Cup. Okorie,  stage name, Patoranking is a Nigerian reggae-dancehall singer and songwriter.

Some notable creations or collaborations of the 32-year-old artist are Alubarika, Girlie O, My Woman My Everything, and Emergency, to name a few. He is also the recipient of awards including AFRIMA, Vodafone Ghana Music Awards, MTV Africa Music Awards, and the 2014 Nigeria Entertainment Awards.

Black Eyed Peas

The group consists of rappers, will.i.am, apl.de.ap, Taboo, and singer, J Rey Soul. The musical squad which had its peak popularity in the 2000s, is famous for songs like Where Is The Love?, Boom Boom Pow, I Gotta Feeling, Don’t Phunk with My Heart, Hey Mama, and so forth.

Some of their achievements are, the first single to sell more than one million downloads in the United Kingdom, 80 million records sold (so far), eight American Music Awards, two Billboard Music Awards, and six Grammys.

The American musical group from LA, California was also one of the performers at the 2010 FIFA World Cup ceremony.

J Balvin

J Balvin is a Colombian singer who rose to prominence through Billboard-winning songs like 6 AM, Ay Vamos, Ginza, Bobo, Safari, Mi Gente, and others. The 37-year-old is one of the best-selling Latin artists, with over 35 million records.

His fans and some media sources alike have been heavily suggesting that he is going to be part of the opening celebration in some form.

According to some reports, however, Balvin is rather performing some days later after the opening ceremony, allegedly on Nov 24.

BTS’ Jungkook

Perhaps the biggest inclusion in the upcoming FIFA World Cup performers list is that of Jungkook from the Korean global superstar boy band, BTS.

The youngest member of the seven-man squad band from South Korea is popular for songs like Butter and Dynamite.

방탄소년단 ‘정국’이 2022 FIFA 카타르 월드컵 공식 사운드트랙과 월드컵 개막식 공연에 참여합니다. 많은 기대 부탁드립니다!
Proud to announce that Jung Kook is part of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 Soundtrack & will perform at the World Cup opening ceremony. Stay tuned!#FIFAWorldCup pic.twitter.com/MwJ2kdNRBp

— BTS_official (@bts_bighit) November 12, 2022

He arguably is the most popular face among other members of the BTS. In March 2021, he broke the record for the most viewers on the South Korean video streaming platform V Live. The stream had 22 million people watching at one point.

It was BTS’s official Twitter handle that confirmed Jungkook’s performance at the impending world cup ceremony.

Although people have anticipated that the band BTS themselves might be performing at the winter event, no confirmation regarding it has been put forward.

Robbie Williams

Williams is another official entertainer to kick off the ensuing soccer event with his performances. Ex-member of the British Pop Group, Take That, Williams, solely has six albums among the top 100 biggest-selling albums in the UK. He additionally is the Guinness World Record holder for selling 1.6 million tickets in a single day in 2006.

Williams’ inclusion, however, has also got some controversies. Many LGBTQ fans of the Angels singer have been criticizing him for going to Qatar despite the country being infamous for its stance on nonbinary people as well as its more controversial attitude and treatment towards migrant workers.

The Stoke-On-Trent-born Williams was also part of the musical celebrations that took place in the Russia 2018 World Cup four years ago.

Nora Fatehi

Fatehi has made leading appearances in several music videos most of which have gone on to gain billions of views on YouTube namely Dilbar Dilbar and Saki Saki.

Fatehi additionally has already been featured in this year’s World Cup official music video, Light The Sky. 

Also, in late September, the Drip Too Hard rapper, Lil Baby who released an official anthem for the World Cup posted a tweet confirming that he was going to be at the celebration in some capacity.

In addition to the aforesaid names, there were some other celebrities who were asked to perform in Qatar. Some of them are Shakira, Dua Lipa, Rod Stewart, and others. They, however, all decided to keep their distance from performing in the middle east for the country’s reputation with respect to human rights.

Among the aforesaid names, the Hips Don’t Lie singer, Shakira has already performed at three previous world cups.