Highlights:
- Shakira headlined the FIFA World Cup 2026 final halftime show.
- Gerard Piqué was spotted watching the performance with their sons.
- His reaction quickly went viral across social media.
- Fans flooded the internet with comments, including "This is his karma."
- Shakira's appearance marked another milestone in her long World Cup history.
Shakira once again proved why she remains one of the biggest global music stars after delivering a show-stopping performance during the first-ever halftime show at the FIFA World Cup final. The Colombian singer took the stage at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey alongside Burna Boy to perform the tournament's official anthem, Dai Dai, as part of a star-studded lineup that also included Madonna, BTS, and Justin Bieber. The performance was widely praised and became one of the most talked-about moments of the Spain-Argentina final.
However, the conversation quickly shifted away from the stage and toward someone watching from the stands—Shakira's former partner, retired Spanish soccer star Gerard Piqué.
Television cameras briefly showed Piqué in the crowd with the former couple's two sons, Milan and Sasha. His expression during Shakira's performance immediately caught viewers' attention, with clips spreading rapidly across social media. While Piqué did not make any public comments, many online users interpreted his reaction in different ways, fueling thousands of posts and memes.
One phrase appeared repeatedly across social media platforms: "This is his karma." Many users referenced the couple's highly publicized breakup in 2022, which followed reports that Piqué had been unfaithful. Their separation became one of the most widely discussed celebrity breakups in recent years and later inspired several of Shakira's songs about heartbreak and moving forward.
For many fans, seeing Shakira command one of the world's biggest sporting stages while Piqué watched from the stands symbolized how much her life and career have changed since the split. Others argued that the internet was reading too much into a brief television shot and that it was impossible to know what Piqué was actually thinking.
The performance was another milestone in Shakira's long association with the FIFA World Cup. She has now appeared at four World Cups, more than her former partner, who represented Spain as a player in three editions before retiring from international soccer. Fans online pointed to that statistic as another reason the moment resonated so strongly.
Shakira has previously spoken about how deeply the World Cup is connected to her personal life. It was through the tournament that she met Piqué, and together they went on to have two sons before ending their relationship after more than a decade. In recent interviews, the singer has described the difficult years following the breakup as a period of personal growth, saying the experience helped her discover a strength she did not know she had.
Since their split, Shakira has experienced a remarkable career resurgence. Her music inspired by the breakup has topped charts around the world, while her ongoing world tour has broken records. The World Cup halftime show added another major achievement to that list, reinforcing her status as one of the tournament's most recognizable musical figures.
Although neither Shakira nor Piqué has addressed the viral clips from the World Cup final, the brief moment was enough to ignite widespread discussion online. For many viewers, the halftime show became about more than music, it was seen as another chapter in one of pop culture's most talked-about celebrity stories. Others, however, viewed the online reaction as speculation, noting that Piqué's televised reaction lasted only a few seconds and offered no clear insight into his thoughts.
