African music will occupy the center of an NFL halftime stage for the first time when Burna Boy performs at Stade de France on October 25, as part of a record seven international halftime shows the league has arranged across seven countries and four continents this season. No Nigerian artist has held this specific position before.
The National Football League confirmed on Thursday, September 17, that the Grammy Award-winning artist will headline the halftime show during the 2026 NFL Paris Game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and New Orleans Saints at Stade de France, with kickoff set for 2:30 p.m. CEST.
The 2026 NFL Paris Game, presented by American Express, will be the first regular-season NFL game played in France, staged in partnership with GL events and with the support of the French Ministry of Sports. That context places Burna Boy at the intersection of two historic firsts simultaneously.
Burna Boy became the first African artist to headline a concert at Stade de France in April 2025.
To date, he has landed nine tracks on the Billboard Hot 100, including “Dai Dai,” his FIFA World Cup 2026 collaboration with Shakira. The October performance will be his second time headlining the same venue within roughly 18 months.
“Paris gave me one of the biggest nights of my career, and to walk back into Stade de France for a moment like this means everything,” Burna Boy told The Associated Press in a statement.
“The NFL is bringing something to France that has never happened here before, and I get to stand in the middle of it representing African music, and I intend to give the people a show they will not forget,” he added.
Tim Tubito, senior director of global game presentation, music, and entertainment at the NFL, said, “The first NFL game in France deserves a halftime moment that matches the occasion, and there is no artist better suited to it than Burna Boy.”
Tubito noted that Paris is one of the great cultural capitals of the world and that African music sits at the heart of what the city listens to, adding that Burna Boy has already made history in the stadium and that bringing him back to perform before a global audience creates the opportunity for something genuinely memorable.
“Dai Dai,” the FIFA World Cup 2026 collaboration with Shakira, topped Billboard’s Global Charts and recently passed one billion views on YouTube. That commercial baseline gives the NFL a performer whose reach extends well beyond Nigeria or even Africa.
Burna Boy’s full halftime performance will be broadcast live in France, free to air on France Télévisions and on beIN Sports, with L’Équipe broadcasting the game later the same evening.
The league will play a record nine games internationally this season, with Paris one of three cities hosting its first regular-season game, the others being Melbourne, Australia, and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Each of those three cities will have a halftime performer for its debut fixture.
The NFL also confirmed the other performers on its 2026 international halftime roster. According to the league’s announcement, Ayra Starr will headline the London game, Ricky Martin and Pedro Sampaio will perform in Rio de Janeiro, Cage the Elephant will headline in Munich, and The Warning will perform in Mexico City. Two Nigerian artists therefore feature in the same international lineup.
The league has played more than 60 regular-season games outside the United States, with previous stops including London, Munich, Frankfurt, Madrid, Dublin, São Paulo, Mexico City, and Toronto. France had not hosted a regular-season fixture before this year’s announcement.
Burna Boy won the Grammy Award for best global music album in 2021 with Twice As Tall.
He has received 13 Grammy nominations in total and was the first African artist to perform on the main Grammy Awards telecast. The NFL halftime slot adds a major American sports platform to that record.
The October 25 performance at Stade de France will mark another point of entry for Burna Boy and Nigerian Afrobeats onto a stage that, until recently, had no precedent for this kind of representation in NFL halftime history.
