Around the world, World Cup Qualifiers are drawing to a close before re-starting in Spring 2022. With a stunted schedule from last year, the delayed qualifiers are now providing soccer fans a key look at how next year’s tournament will pan out.
As the top competition in the world’s most popular sport, the upcoming World Cup is expected to draw in hundreds of millions of concurrent viewers. It’s also an incredibly popular event for sports bettors; even those who don’t normally wager on domestic or international leagues will want to back a dark horse as Group Stages get underway.
For some, it might be their first time betting on the sport—especially fans from North America, where soccer offerings are limited. But with the sport gaining in popularity, those looking into how to bet on soccer from Canada have access to handy guides and analysis from pundits, who are covering major soccer events with more frequency.
But the World Cup isn’t strictly about crowning one nation the champions of soccer. While even casual sports fans are likely to tune into the event, some might only be following their favorite stars. An even slimmer margin might follow headlines to follow the cultural aspects of the World Cup, which include a highly anticipated theme song.
Though the anthem has more to do with pageantry than soccer, there have been more than a few notable incidents related to theme songs in the last years. Gerard Pique, for example, met his future wife Shakira during a live performance of ‘Waka Waka (This Time for Africa)’ during the 2010 FIFA World Cup launch.
However, the 2022 performers haven’t yet been listed by FIFA—but there are two names on the shortlist: J Balvin and Pitbull.
The Search for a ‘Mr. Worldwide’
In the US, the NFL’s Super Bowl may be a huge gig for performers to land, but the FIFA World Cup is one of the most prestigious acts a musical artist can attain. The World Cup, as mentioned above, is watched by hundreds of millions of sports fans—and they’ll all be listening to the same theme song throughout broadcasts.
By some figures, including FIFA’s report on 2014 viewership, over three billion people tuned in. Obviously, nailing the theme song will catapult global names to new heights. Already, one of 2022’s top contenders, Pitbull, fits the bill.
Known as ‘Mr. Worldwide’, the Latino hype man knows how to rally a crowd—but, as his moniker suggests, he’s also a familiar face and voice for people around the world. For context, he’s sold 25 million studio records and has racked up over 15 billion YouTube views. Pitbull, in addition to J Balvin, has a massive fanbase, which makes him an ideal choice for the 2022 World Cup.
But that doesn’t mean FIFA, which has a deal with Sony Music Entertainment, will be choosing only one artist or one song. In fact, in recent years, FIFA has begun building out larger playlists that will gear fans up for the competition.
A Growing List of Artists
Back in 2018, FIFA selected a large number of artists to build out its biggest songs. ‘Live It Up’ was the official song, which was a collaboration between Nicky Jam, Will Smith, Era Istrefi, and Diplo. Another FIFA-specific creation saw Jason Derulo team up with Maluma for ‘Colors’, while Prince Royce and ChocQuibTown released, ’90 Minutos’.
Clearly, the emphasis is on multilingual tracks, with Spanish just as important as English for global audiences. Pitbull can perform in both tongues, while J Balvin is leading the Latin charts as the number-one streamed artist on Deezer.
However, Pitbull and J Balvin wouldn’t be collaborating for an official FIFA track. Instead, it looks like FIFA has multiple options, which include ‘United by Love’ by Natalie Oreiro, ‘Positivo’ by J Balvin and Michael Brun, ‘Carnaval’ by Pitbull and Claudia Leitte, and ‘Allez Lmgharba’ by Samira Said.
FIFA is expected to make an official selection in Spring 2022.