World Cup final kick-off slips by six minutes

A World Cup final in New Jersey started six minutes late on Sunday after an expanded pre-match show that included performances, ring-announcer theatrics and a speech by actor Tom Cruise. According to The Independent, the scheduled kick-off time passed while Robbie Williams performed, Jennifer Hudson sang the national anthem, and Michael and Bruce Buffer delivered a boxing-style introduction.

The delay was small by itself, but it underlined how FIFA’s US-hosted tournament has been packaged as a television variety show with a football match attached. The same staging logic pushed the World Cup closing ceremony to roughly 90 minutes before kick-off, with additional acts listed for half-time that were expected to hold up the restart. Organisers also built in hydration breaks during each half, a practical response to warm conditions at an outdoor stadium without air conditioning, but one that further formalised interruptions inside the broadcast window.

The pre-game spectacle was not limited to the pitch. The Independent reports that hundreds of journalists, entertainers and volunteers waited in lines for up to three hours to enter the stadium, with Donald Trump’s attendance adding security layers on top of an already high-profile event. When access queues become part of the day’s story, it is usually because staffing, screening and crowd-flow decisions were made to satisfy liability and television requirements first, and the people on the ground second.

FIFA has long sold the World Cup as a global civic ritual; the US edition leaned harder on celebrity cameos and scripted unity slogans. Cruise’s remarks—framed as a call to celebrate “unity” and “greatness”—landed in a production where the audience had already been asked to sit through multiple acts before the ball moved. The result is a familiar trade: more inventory for sponsors and broadcasters, less control for the sport’s own tempo.

The match eventually began, but the opening whistle came after the event had already demonstrated what it was optimised for.

Kick-off was set for 8pm BST and arrived at 8:06pm.