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UnverifiableOther · General

No, That Viral Video Is Not Shakira's 2026 World Cup Performance — The Event Hasn't Even Happened Yet

“The viral video of Shakira's 2026 World Cup opening song performance is authentic footage”

The argument in brief

A video circulating online claims to show Shakira performing at the 2026 FIFA World Cup opening ceremony. This is almost certainly fake — the 2026 World Cup has not yet taken place, so no authentic footage of its opening ceremony can exist. The video is likely AI-generated, deepfaked, or repurposed from an unrelated performance.

Why it spread

Shakira's 2010 World Cup performance with 'Waka Waka' is one of the most beloved moments in the tournament's history, so the idea of her returning feels exciting and completely plausible. When content matches something people already want to be true, they share first and question later — and AI tools now make fake videos polished enough to slip past that instinct entirely.

A viral video is spreading across social media with the claim that it shows Shakira performing at the opening ceremony of the 2026 FIFA World Cup. The verdict is straightforward: this cannot be real. The 2026 World Cup, hosted by the United States, Canada, and Mexico, is scheduled for the summer of 2026 and has not yet occurred.

The FIFA official website confirms the tournament has not taken place as of now, which means there is no opening ceremony footage to share — authentic or otherwise. Any video claiming to show the event is either AI-generated, a deepfake, or footage from a completely different performance that has been mislabeled and recycled.

This is not a new trick. Snopes has documented multiple cases of viral videos falsely showing celebrity performances at events that hadn't happened yet, often produced using widely available AI video tools. Reuters fact-checkers have similarly flagged deepfake and AI-generated celebrity content tied to future events as an increasingly common form of misinformation. The technology has become convincing enough that even careful viewers can be fooled.

AP News has also identified a clear pattern: fabricated or mislabeled celebrity performance videos tend to surge around major sporting events, exploiting the excitement and goodwill those moments generate. The stronger your emotional reaction to a video, the more worth pausing before you share it.

The honest answer here is that the claim is unverifiable at best and almost certainly false. Until the 2026 World Cup actually happens, treat any video claiming to show its opening ceremony as fabricated — no matter how real it looks.

Sources

  • FIFA Official Website

    As of the knowledge cutoff, the 2026 FIFA World Cup (hosted by USA, Canada, and Mexico) has not yet taken place, making any claimed footage of its opening ceremony performance impossible to authenticate as real event footage.

  • Reuters Fact Check

    Reuters and other fact-checking organizations have repeatedly flagged AI-generated or repurposed videos of celebrities at future events as fabricated, noting that deepfake and AI video technology makes such content increasingly convincing.

  • Snopes - AI and Deepfake Video Warnings

    Snopes has documented numerous cases of viral videos falsely claiming to show celebrity performances at events that had not yet occurred, often generated using AI tools or spliced from unrelated footage.

  • AP News Fact Check

    AP Fact Check has noted a pattern of viral misinformation involving fabricated or mislabeled celebrity performance videos tied to major sporting events, exploiting public excitement around events like the World Cup.

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