K-pop's Growing Role in 2026 World Cup Football

Lisa gives 2026 a global crossover

The report says Lisa’s “Goals” arrived on 21 May as part of the official World Cup album. The track brings together Anitta and Rema, blending K-pop with Latin pop and Afrobeats rather than staying within one national sound.

Lisa is expected to perform the song at the opening ceremony at SoFi Stadium on 11 June, alongside Katy Perry and Marilina Bogado. If that staging goes ahead, the tournament will give K-pop one of its clearest global platforms yet.

The collaboration also reflects football’s wider soundtrack strategy: major events increasingly favour multilingual, cross-market records over songs aimed at one audience alone.

Jungkook set the Qatar benchmark

The report says Jungkook performed “Dreamers” at the opening ceremony of the 2022 World Cup with Fahad Al Kubaisi. It also describes him as the first Korean artist to lead an official World Cup anthem.

That performance created a benchmark for Korean artists at football’s biggest event. The update says the song’s video has since passed 450 million views, underlining how World Cup music can retain a long afterlife beyond the final whistle.

“Dreamers” also leaned into Qatari musical influences, showing how a global pop star can connect a tournament song to its host culture.

South Korea gets its own soundtrack

The report says boy group TWS are set to release “Dream With Us” as a support song for South Korea’s national team. Dynamic Duo and Woodz are also involved in “Watch It, Feel It,” a domestic campaign track built around rap, vocals and a faster football-ready rhythm.

As 11 June approaches, the key storyline will be whether Lisa’s ceremony performance, TWS’s supporter anthem and South Korea’s domestic campaign turn into lasting matchday traditions.