From Post Malone to Tom Cruise: Has the World Cup become the world’s biggest entertainment franchise?
When the final feels like a film premiere, is the World Cup still just sport?
We weren't even at half-time, and the FIFA World Cup final had already delivered more celebrity wattage than some awards shows.
Long before Spain and Argentina settled into the biggest match of their lives, the spotlight belonged elsewhere. Post Malone strode onto the stage in his trademark cowboy hat, jeans and boots—a look that screamed Americana—and used football's grandest stage to debut a brand-new song. Internet sensation IShowSpeed followed, bouncing across the stage with his trademark high-octane energy, before Swae Lee kept the party going.
Then came Jennifer Hudson, dressed in a striking white ensemble, standing atop a gleaming gold platform as she delivered a powerhouse performance against a backdrop of performers carrying the flags of every participating nation. Robbie Williams swaggered onto the pitch in an electric blue outfit, joined by Nicole Scherzinger, equally radiant in blue, turning the World Cup into what felt like a sold-out stadium concert.
And just when you thought FIFA had exhausted its list of A-listers, Tom Cruise arrived—or rather, his unmistakable voice did.
The Hollywood superstar narrated the ceremony with the dramatic conviction of a blockbuster trailer.
"They began a journey. They crossed oceans. They crossed borders. They crossed cultures."
Every line landed with cinematic gravitas. Football wasn't merely a tournament; it was an epic. A quest. A global adventure. If anyone could make a month of football sound like the opening scene of the next Mission: Impossible film, it was Cruise.
If FIFA's brief was to make football's biggest night feel like Hollywood's biggest premiere, mission accomplished.
And that's what got me thinking.
Have we reached a point where the World Cup is no longer just the biggest sporting event on the planet? Has it quietly become one of the biggest entertainment franchises in the world?
By kick-off, we'd already had a brand-new Post Malone song, internet royalty in IShowSpeed, Swae Lee, Jennifer Hudson, Robbie Williams, Nicole Scherzinger, Tom Cruise's blockbuster narration and a production that felt like the Super Bowl on steroids.
The football hadn't even reached half-time, yet Hollywood had already stolen plenty of the limelight.
Maybe that's exactly what FIFA wanted. Or maybe it's worth asking whether football's biggest night has become just a little too Hollywood.
