What Should Fans Know About Ricky Martin's Ravens vs Cowboys Halftime Performance?

The NFL is taking its biggest swing yet at international expansion, and the halftime show for Sunday's Ravens-Cowboys game at Rio de Janeiro's Maracanã Stadium says everything about where the league is heading. Ricky Martin, 54, and Brazilian DJ Pedro Sampaio will perform at what is the first NFL regular-season game ever played in Brazil. Kickoff is set for September 27 at 5:25 p.m. BRT (4:25 p.m. ET), making it one of the most anticipated international games the league has staged in years. 

Who is performing at the Ravens vs. Cowboys halftime show in Rio?

The NFL confirmed that global music icon Ricky Martin and Brazilian DJ Pedro Sampaio will headline the halftime show at Maracanã Stadium. The pairing is deliberate. Martin brings the global marquee value. Sampaio, who has an online following of more than 16 million and 14 billion combined streams, is one of Brazil's most successful musicians. Together, they give the NFL both an international name and a local one, which is exactly what a debut game in a new market needs. 

It will be the second of seven halftime shows staged across the 2026 NFL International Games, as the league plays its most international schedule ever in a single season. 

For Sampaio, performing at Maracanã carries a weight that goes beyond the NFL. "I grew up in Rio de Janeiro, seeing Maracanã Stadium as a place where history was made. I never imagined that my first time performing on that field would be alongside Ricky Martin, who has always been a huge inspiration to me. It's hard to put into words," he said. "Maracanã is part of the history of both sports and music, and being part of this moment, especially at the first NFL game in my hometown, is something I'll carry with me for the rest of my life."

Martin, no stranger to big NFL stages, is clearly relishing the occasion too. "Being part of another historic NFL event alongside Pedro Sampaio is incredibly exciting, especially because it brings me back to one of my favorite places in the world: Rio," he said. "There's nothing quite like the energy of the Brazilian people."

What is Ricky Martin's history with the NFL?

This is not Martin's first rodeo with the NFL, and that context matters. His history with the league stretches back nearly three decades. In 1998, he performed "The Cup of Life" at halftime of a Dallas Cowboys-New England Patriots preseason game at Mexico City's Estadio Azteca. That was years before the NFL's current international push even existed as a strategy. Martin was there before the blueprint was drawn.

The Puerto Rican-born singer first gained fame in the 1980s as part of the Latino pop boy band Menudo before "Livin' La Vida Loca" became a global hit in 1999. He is now 54, born December 24, 1971, in San Juan, Puerto Rico, with a career spanning more than four decades across pop, dance, salsa, and reggaeton.

Earlier in 2026, Martin joined Bad Bunny during the Super Bowl LX halftime show, performing "LO QUE LE PASÓ A HAWAii." So Rio is not a comeback, it is a continuation. The man has been showing up for the NFL's biggest moments across three different decades, and Sunday's performance at one of the most iconic stadiums in the world adds another chapter to that record.

Samba and pagode star Péricles and American bilingual recording artist Kandace Lindsey will also perform the national anthems of Brazil and the United States before kickoff, setting the tone for what promises to be a full celebration of both football and culture.