The 2022 World Cup in Qatar kicked off on Sunday, with K-pop supergroup BTS Jungkook performing a new event song at the opening ceremony.
The first Korean singer to release a song on the World Cup soundtrack, Jungkook performed “Dreamer” live at the opening ceremony at Qatar’s Al Bayt Stadium. The lead singer of the song, Fahad Al Kubaisi, performed with Jungkook on Sunday.
The seven-act ceremony lasted about half an hour and paid tribute to the 32 participating countries, previous World Championship hosts and volunteers.
Oscar winner Morgan Freeman and Qatari social media star Ghanim Mufta officiated the opening. A team of dancers performed the traditional Ardah sword dance, before the 32 national teams displayed their flags and mascots.
Led by Qatar World Cup mascot La’eeb, Jungkook showed up, dressed head to toe in black. BTS members jumped onto the stage with dozens of dancers and sang “Dreamers.” Qatari singer Fahad Al Kubaisi joined them in the middle of Jungkook’s performance.
According to FIFA, “Dreamers” is a song produced by Grammy-winning Moroccan producer RedOne whose lyrics celebrate “those who bravely pursue their goals and dare to dream”.
“Dreamers” was officially released hours before the ceremony. It swept the charts upon release, topping the iTunes Top Songs chart in 100 countries in just 12 hours and topping the charts in two more within the next hour. In the US, the song reached number one in just over two hours, the shortest time ever for a World Cup song.
“Dreamers” is the second official song released by Jungkook independently. In June, Jungkook participated in the song “Left and Right” by American singer-songwriter Charlie Puth. This makes the BTS member the longest-running K-pop solo artist to top the Billboard Hot 100 major singles chart, following 2013’s Psy.
Meanwhile, the K-pop star met with the South Korean national team during his stay in Qatar to support the players ahead of the match.
According to the Korean Football Association, Jungkook visited the Doha Al Egra training ground where the players stayed before the World Cup, expressed his support for the Korean national team, and took a group photo with the Korean national team.
The World Cup in Qatar is the first time hosted by a Muslim country, and it is also the first time that the World Cup is held in winter.
