The opening ceremony of the World Cup in Qatar, a celebration this Sunday (20) that will serve as a calling card for the public interested in the competition in the country, was full of unknowns very close to its occurrence. Neither World Cup owner Fifa nor the local organizing committee had even released the schedule for the event until this report was published.

The place of the ceremony is known (the Al Bayt stadium, in the city of Al Khor, with a capacity of 60,000 people) and the time is known (6 p.m. in Qatar, 00 a.m. in Brazil), but it there is no definition of the artists who participate in it. .

Some sites have published that the presence of the American rapper Lil Baby, the Canadian actress and singer Nora Fatehi and the South Korean Jungkook, member of the K-pop group BTS, are confirmed.

The latter two would perform to the sound of “Light The Sky”, one of the theme songs for this year’s World Cup.

The rest is speculation, with a host of potential guests.
The Nigerian Patoranking, the English Robbie Williams (who participated in the show during the 2018 Russian Cup), the American Jason Derulo, the Lebanese Myriam Fares, the Colombians J Balvin, Maluma and Shakira, the Trinidado-Tobanese Nicki Minaj and the American group Black Eyed Peas.

The presence of the trio Maluma, Minaj and Fares can be considered probable, since they interpret the official song of the Worlds, “Tukoh Taka”, released only this Friday.

The certainty are the absences of pop stars Dua Lipa and Rod Stewart, both English.

They cited Qatar’s disregard for human rights issues as a reason for disregarding attendance at any events organized by the country.

On TV at noon

With or without an announced schedule, Brazilians will be able to follow the opening ceremony live on television.

Globo (open TV), SporTV (pay channel) and Globoplay (streaming service) will broadcast the event from noon.

The World Cup opener, Qatar x Ecuador, starts at 1 p.m. (Folhapress)