Shakira has become the closest thing the World Cup has to a recurring pop soundtrack architect.

There are global pop stars, and then there are artists who become part of the visual and emotional language of an event.

That is where Shakira now sits with the FIFA World Cup.

By 2026, her link with football’s biggest tournament has stretched across two decades, from Germany 2006 to South Africa 2010, Brazil 2014, and now Canada, Mexico and the United States 2026. El Independiente says Dai Dai closes a 20-year cycle tied to the World Cup, while Reuters notes that the teaser for the new song explicitly referenced World Cup balls from previous tournaments in which Shakira had major musical roles.

Her World Cup story started before Waka Waka

Most people remember Waka Waka first. But Shakira’s World Cup story began earlier.

Her first major connection to the tournament came in Berlin 2006, when FIFA invited her to perform at the closing ceremony during the international explosion of “Hips Don’t Lie.” For that event, she performed a special World Cup version known as “Hips Don’t Lie - Bamboo.” The publication is careful to say it was not the official anthem, but it still marked the start of Shakira entering FIFA’s musical orbit. Wikipedia’s entry on Hips Don’t Lie also notes that she and Wyclef Jean performed the World Cup mix at the closing ceremony before the 2006 final.

That nuance matters. If you are counting official songs, 2006 is different from 2010. But if you are counting major World Cup music moments, 2006 clearly belongs in the timeline. That is why Dai Dai can be described as either Shakira’s third major World Cup song or her fourth major World Cup musical connection, depending on how strictly you define the category.

Waka Waka made her the face of World Cup music

If 2006 opened the door, 2010 made Shakira inseparable from the tournament’s musical history.

“Waka Waka (This Time for Africa)” was selected as the official song of the 2010 FIFA World Cup and released as part of the tournament album. It also describes the single as one of the best-selling digital singles ever, with global sales measured in the tens of millions.

What made Waka Waka so durable was not only FIFA branding. It worked as a pop song, a sports anthem, and a global media event at the same time. It connected South African identity, global football spectacle, and Shakira’s own crossover power into one track that kept living long after the tournament ended. That long life is exactly why it still matters in music-business conversations today.

This is also where Tably readers may want extra context on recurring music income. Articles like ASCAP 2025 Annual Report: Revenue, Royalties and What It Means for Songwriters help explain why a song tied to a giant global event can keep generating value long after its first release.

The royalty side of Waka Waka is far more complicated than the public story

The success of Waka Waka also reveals why global event songs are not only cultural products, but rights products.

ENSafrica argues that the real long-term engine behind songs like Waka Waka is not just streaming or label activity, but the underlying intellectual-property rights in the composition and recording. Their article says that licensing deals can include clauses about how revenue should be distributed, including charity allocations.

That becomes important because ENSafrica says Freshlyground’s side has raised concerns about royalties that were allegedly meant for African charities. The article reports that ZAR158 million intended for charity is said to be unaccounted for, and that Freshlyground’s manager said repeated requests to FIFA and Sony had not produced clear answers. It also says the parties were at one point told that the royalties had gone to FIFA’s 20 Centres for 2010 initiative, but that charity later shut down.

Whether this ends in full public clarification or not, the case matters because it shows how even the world’s most celebrated football song can raise hard questions about licensing transparency, beneficiary clauses, and accountability.

Brazil 2014 kept the relationship alive

Shakira did not disappear from the World Cup story after 2010.

In Brazil 2014, she returned with “La La La (Brazil 2014)”, an adapted version with Carlinhos Brown that formed part of the tournament’s official album environment.

That is a powerful point because it changes the way we should think about her FIFA relationship. Shakira is not just an artist who had one perfect World Cup hit. She became a recurring musical symbol of the tournament. That kind of repetition is rare. It means FIFA has repeatedly trusted her not just to perform, but to help shape how the event sounds in public memory.

Why Dai Dai matters in 2026

Now comes Dai Dai.

AP and FIFA presented the song as a major global collaboration between Shakira and Burna Boy, tied to the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

It reports that Shakira is donating all her royalties from Dai Dai to the FIFA Global Citizen Education Fund, and that the campaign aims to raise $100 million before the tournament ends. Sony Music Latin will match the first $250,000 raised and that Shakira will also donate $1 from every ticket sold on her Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran tour to the effort.

That changes the meaning of the song in two ways. First, it makes Dai Dai part of FIFA’s entertainment strategy. Second, it turns the release into a case study in how a World Cup song can also function as a rights-driven philanthropic vehicle.

Why FIFA keeps coming back to Shakira

At this point, the pattern is too consistent to ignore.

Shakira gives FIFA three things it has always wanted from its music: global reach, an instantly recognizable identity, and the ability to turn a song into a cultural phenomenon. That may be the clearest explanation of all. FIFA does not only need an artist with fame. It needs someone whose sound, image and performance style can travel across markets, languages and football cultures.

Shakira fits that profile unusually well. She has Spanish-language reach, English-language crossover recognition, deep Latin pop credibility, and a long visual history with football audiences. Few artists can serve all of those functions at once. That is likely why her World Cup songs do not feel like detached brand commissions. They feel like continuations of an identity that fans already associate with the event.

That is also why this story sits so naturally beside Tably’s article Why Artists Sell Their Music Catalogs — and What It Means for Labels, Investors and Creators. If an artist becomes that tightly linked to major cultural events, the long-term value of their songs and rights grows far beyond the original release cycle.

The catalog and ownership angle should not be ignored

There is another layer here that matters for music-business readers: Shakira is not just a performer with big songs. She is also part of the modern catalog-rights economy.

La Voz de Galicia reported in 2024 that the fund holding rights to Shakira songs was expected to accept an offer worth €1.472 billion. That figure was tied to the wider catalog-asset environment rather than to a single song, but it matters here because it shows how valuable long-running music rights can become when songs keep generating cultural and commercial relevance over time.

That is the deeper business lesson behind this whole World Cup arc. Songs like Hips Don’t Lie - Bamboo, Waka Waka, La La La, and Dai Dai are not only event moments. They are pieces of IP that can generate streaming, performance, sync, licensing, catalog and branding value for years. That is exactly why rights clarity matters so much.

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Shakira did not just land one famous football song.

She built a rare, repeatable musical relationship with the World Cup itself.

For readers who want to connect this to the wider Tably ecosystem, it also makes sense to explore the Music Labels Program and the Verified Artists Program, both of which fit directly into the larger conversation about how artists and labels can keep more long-term value from their catalogs.