Rema and Football: How an Afrobeats Star Became a Fixture on the World’s Biggest Stages

How “Calm Down” opened the door, and why Rema keeps walking through it.

The stage was set in October 2023, the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris, and the most celebrated footballers on the planet are seated in a single room for the Ballon d’Or ceremony. Lionel Messi is about to collect his eighth Golden Ball. Kylian Mbappé is in the building. Erling Haaland. Jude Bellingham. Vinicius Jr. The best of the best, all in one place. And then, a 23-year-old from Benin City, Nigeria, walks onto that stage and performs “Calm Down” to all of them.

Midway through the set, Rema steps down from the stage. Not to take a bow, but to greet the players directly. Handshakes. Smiles. Bellingham. Haaland. Rodri. Bernardo Silva. This was not a fan to superstar interaction, but rather, a Superstar- Superstar interaction. The type of motion earned through putting in the work at the highest level and Rema did that with “calm down”. These global superstars knew who he was.

The Song That Started Everything

Before the ceremonies and the opening nights, before FIFA came calling, there was the music. “Calm Down” was released in February 2022 as part of Rema’s debut album Rave & Roses, and it moved differently from the moment it landed. By the time its remix with Selena Gomez dropped, the song had become a global phenomenon, peaking at number three on the Billboard Hot 100 and leading the U.S. Afrobeats Songs chart for a record 58 weeks.

But what made the football world take notice was something more organic than chart positions. In January 2023, Rema shared videos of “Calm Down” playing at Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium in London after a match had just ended, and simultaneously at Al Nassr’s stadium in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, where Cristiano Ronaldo had recently signed. Two stadiums, two continents, same song, same week. Rema could barely contain himself. He posted both clips with a caption about promoting Afrobeats to the world.

It was not a marketing stunt. It was not a campaign. It was just a song so good that stadium DJs, independently of each other, were choosing to play it as tens of thousands of fans filed out of their seats. That kind of organic penetration into football culture is not engineered. You earn it.

The Ballon d’Or: A Historic Night in Paris

When Rema performed at the 2023 Ballon d’Or ceremony, he became the first African artist ever to do so. The record books will reflect that fact, but the record books cannot fully capture what it meant.

The Ballon d’Or is not a concert. It is not designed for the artist. It is football’s most prestigious individual award night, a ceremony built around the players, milestones, and speeches. Entertainment is secondary, For the organizers to look at the global musical landscape and decide that the night needed an Afrobeats artist, specifically a Nigerian one, said everything about where the genre stood by late 2023.

Rema performed “Calm Down” and the room sang along and watched him in admiration. That detail matters. These were not fans attending a concert. These were footballers, their clubs’ representatives, football journalists, and executives, people who had heard that song playing in their stadiums and in their earphones for the better part of the past one year, and they knew every word. The night was more than a performance, it signified a very important global crossover for afrobeats into mainstream sports entertainment..

AFCON 2025: Bringing It Home to the Continent

CAF’s decision to feature Rema as a headline performer at the AFCON 2025 opening ceremony in Morocco reflected a deliberate intent to connect continental football with the sounds driving African youth culture globally. He also appeared on the official AFCON 2025 soundtrack album, contributing to a project that brought together some of Africa’s biggest names in music for the tournament.

There is something significant about an artist who has performed for the world’s best footballers in Paris also performing for African fans watching their national teams chase continental glory in Casablanca. It speaks to relevance: an artist in constant demand. And it speaks to the fact that Rema’s relationship with football is not a gimmick or a one-off brand moment. It is a genuine and sustainable. .

Not Just Football: A Quick Stop in the NBA

The full width of Rema’s sports footprint also touched another mainstream sport. In February 2023, the NBA All-Star Game halftime show in Salt Lake City featured three Nigerian artists: Burna Boy, Tems, and Rema. Basketball’s most-watched weekend chose Afrobeats as its halftime soundtrack, and Rema was part of that wave. It was an important indicator that his cultural currency was not limited to one sport or one audience. The same energy that resonated in football stadiums was resonating in basketball arenas.

But football remained the more consistent, more significant thread.

The World Cup: Football’s Grandest Stage

Everything Rema has built in the world of sports leads to this. On June 12, 2026, he will take the stage at Los Angeles Stadium for the opening ceremony of the FIFA World Cup, the single most-watched sporting event on the planet. He will perform “Goals,” a track recorded with K-pop superstar LISA and Brazilian pop artist Anitta, produced by Grammy-winning producer Cirkut, and released through Def Jam Recordings. FIFA describes it as a high-energy celebration designed to reflect the global nature of the World Cup; Afrobeats meeting K-pop meeting Latin pop on football’s biggest night.

What makes this moment particularly poignant is the context surrounding it. Nigeria did not qualify for the 2026 World Cup. The Super Eagles will not be on that pitch in Los Angeles. But Rema will be on that stage. An artist born in Benin City, raised on the sounds of a country whose footballers did not make the cut, will represent that country’s culture to a global audience of hundreds of millions. Music going where football could not.

He joins a lineup that includes Katy Perry, Future, and other international acts, but the significance of his place on that bill is distinctly African. It is the same significance that Burna Boy carried when he performed at the 2023 UEFA Champions League final in Istanbul, and is set to do same at the 2026 FIFA World Cup. The same significance that Davido carried when he performed at the 2022 World Cup closing ceremony in Qatar. Rema, alongside Ayra Starr are in the next chapter in a story that Nigerian music has been writing, steady and really intentionally, across football’s biggest stages.

What Rema represents in football transcends personal success. It is evidence of a cultural shift that has been building for years. Football and Afrobeats found each other because they share the same energy, the same communal electricity, the same ability to make thousands of strangers feel like one thing at the same time. When “Calm Down” played at the Emirates and in Riyadh, it was not the DJ doing Rema a favour. It was the natural conclusion of a sound that had been circling sports culture for months, waiting to be acknowledged.

From getting the International stage at the Ballon d’Or, to bringing it back to the continent with AFCON, to going global with The FIFA World Cup. This is the highest echelon where sports meets music. And Rema, an afrobeats star, sits at it.

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