Nigerian music star Burna Boy will headline the halftime show at the National Football League’s first regular-season game in Paris, placing African music at the centre of another major international sporting event.
The NFL announced that the Grammy-winning artist will perform on Sunday, 25 October 2026, when the Pittsburgh Steelers face the New Orleans Saints at the Stade de France. The game will be the league’s first regular-season fixture in France and forms part of the NFL’s largest international programme to date.
For Burna Boy, the Paris appearance will also mark a return to a venue where he has already made history. In April 2025, he became the first African artist to headline the Stade de France, underlining the scale of his international audience and the continuing global rise of African music.
The NFL said Burna Boy’s connection with Paris, his international appeal and the prominence of African music in the French capital made him a natural choice for the occasion. His selection also places him alongside a wider international entertainment line-up being used by the league to connect its overseas games with local and global music audiences.
“Paris gave me one of the biggest nights of my career.”
Burna Boy said returning to the stadium for the NFL’s first Paris game carried special meaning, adding that he intended to represent African music on the global stage. The full halftime performance is expected to be broadcast live in France through France Télévisions and beIN Sports.
The Paris fixture is one of several international games being staged by the NFL in 2026 as the league expands its footprint beyond the United States. Other host cities include London, Madrid, Melbourne, Mexico City, Munich and Rio de Janeiro, with entertainment increasingly being used as part of the league’s strategy to attract new audiences in each market.
That approach has created new opportunities for African artists whose music already commands large audiences across Europe. Afrobeats and Afro-fusion have become increasingly visible at global festivals, award ceremonies, stadium concerts and major sporting events, with Nigerian performers now regularly appearing on stages once dominated by American and European acts.
Burna Boy has been one of the most prominent figures in that expansion. His international touring record, Grammy recognition and collaborations across genres have helped establish him as one of Africa’s most recognisable contemporary performers. His return to Stade de France therefore carries significance beyond a single halftime show. It reflects the growing commercial and cultural influence of African music within the global entertainment economy.
For Nigerian audiences and members of the diaspora, the appearance will also offer another high-profile moment of representation on a major international stage. The performance is expected to draw attention from both sports and music audiences, giving the artist another opportunity to introduce African sounds to viewers who may not ordinarily follow Afrobeats.
The NFL Paris Game will take place at 2.30 p.m. local time on 25 October. Further entertainment and fan-event details are expected to be announced ahead of the fixture.
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