IShowSpeed Vs Shakira: How A YouTube Streamer Is Winning The 2026 World Cup Song War
FIFA paid Shakira and Burna Boy to make the official anthem. IShowSpeed made his own for free, posted it online, and fans are already saying his is better.
The 2026 World Cup's official anthem, Dai Dai, features Shakira and Burna Boy. Released in May, it has divided opinion since the day it dropped. Then, on Monday, IShowSpeed released his own unofficial track titled World Cup Champions, and within two hours it had crossed half a million views on YouTube. By Tuesday morning, fans were demanding FIFA adopt it as the real anthem instead.
Speed posted on X: "Can we make this official?? @FIFAWorldCup." FIFA replied: "We will be in touch."
The Song and Why It Is Connecting
World Cup Champions shouts out every country competing in the tournament, from Australia to Turkiye, directed by Zach Madden with executive production from Slipz and Ames Ward. The energy is high, the format is simple, and the thing that makes it work is the same thing that makes IShowSpeed work in general: it feels completely unfiltered. Nobody sat in a boardroom deciding what this song needed to achieve. He made it because he wanted to, put it out, and the internet responded the way it always does with Speed content.
Speed has over 54 million subscribers on YouTube alone. His relationship with football began years ago when a viewer asked him in a livestream who his favourite football player was. He said "Christo Ronaldo, sewey!" and has been one of the sport's most enthusiastic online advocates ever since. His 2022 World Cup song, simply titled World Cup, has since crossed 209 million views on YouTube and became a genuine viral phenomenon across TikTok and Instagram Reels.
The Comparison With Dai Dai
The debate the song has sparked is the interesting part. Dai Dai is a polished, multi-language production backed by Sony Music Latin, featuring two globally recognised artists and built around FIFA's commercial infrastructure. It has been on streaming platforms for weeks and generated significant TikTok activity.
World Cup Champions has none of that infrastructure. It has Speed, a loud beat, 48 country shout-outs, and a fan base that has spent years watching him lose his mind over Ronaldo goals at 3am. One user on X summed up the reaction perfectly: "The best World Cup song has come from a streamer." Whether FIFA follows through on their cryptic reply remains to be seen. The song war, however, already has a popular winner.