The UEFA Champions League final is the world’s most watched annual sporting event.

200 nations stop in their tracks to watch Europe’s most elite players go toe-to-toe over the most coveted prize in club football. As hundreds of millions of fans from across the globe tuned in to witness Manchester City lift their first-ever UCL trophy earlier this month, they also saw two of music’s biggest stars take to the stage ahead of kick-off: Burna Boy and Anitta.

Since 2016, Pepsi have brought some of music’s most iconic performers to the UCL final with each act bringing something different to the matchday experience. From R'n'B acts to some of Pop's finest - and now Afrobeats royalty in the form of Burna Boy - the ambition of the ‘Kick Off Show’ by Pepsi has been to play a huge role in diversifying the cultural experience of club football’s biggest occasion, solidifying the connection between football and music in the process.

The crossover between football and music has organically gathered pace in the last several years, creating an environment where Pepsi’s ‘Kick Off Show’ can thrive compared to the early 00s. Stormzy unveiled Paul Pogba at Manchester United. Capo Lee linked up with Loftus-Cheek, Hudson-Odoi and Kante for ‘Style and Swag’. Hazey rose to fame courtesy of ‘Packs and Potions’, a song that became synonymous with football and saw the Liverpool rapper meet Trent Alexander-Arnold. Fans today know that Little Simz is a Gooner or that Guvna B will be cheering the Hammers on at the London Stadium week in, week out.

And although the relationship between football and music has always existed – shoutout to Ian Wright and his 1993 bop ‘Do The Right Thing’ – for a new generation of fans it’s now an expectation that the two worlds merge as the game continues to expand its reach beyond the pitch, a sentiment also shared by this year’s UCL headline act Burna Boy: “These huge football games are special and bringing in music performances just makes the whole thing feel even bigger. I feel like the energy at football games is a bit like at festivals or stadium concerts – people are vibing and the atmosphere is so good. It’s the perfect fit and I think we will start to see much more of this happening over the next few years.”

As the game develops and continues to operate in spaces outside of the sport, it finds itself bringing new, and arguably, ‘untraditional’ fans into the fold. The evolution of fandom means that people support a club, team or player because of reasons outside of familial allegiance or geography. I ‘inherited’ Arsenal from my Dad, who grew up in Islington. He supported the Gunners which meant so did I. He was my access point to the North London club, and for years, the main reason I followed the team was because it meant I could form a connection to and spend time with him.

Fast forward to 2023, and it’s become far more common for people to build connections – not necessarily diehard fandom – to clubs for a much broader set of reasons: superstar players, kit drops, FIFA ratings, appearances in documentaries, and a connection to music culture. The cultural plurality of football now means it has an ability to speak with people who aren’t necessarily glued to the screen for 90 minutes once the referee blows their whistle. This is another area where Burna Boy thinks people like him can add value.

“We have to respect the fans that traveled across the world to watch their team play in this game – they go to every game, they’re amazing. Then there’s this other group who might watch a match here and there, they might not know the teams or the players as well; but they love the game just as much. And then there are music fans who might not have watched the game had it not been for the ‘Kick Off Show’ – they might watch because they want to see me or Anitta or Alesso perform, and they stay for the magic that follows. For those people it might be the start of their love for football, who knows. It’s so special how we can bring all these people together for one night – that’s the beauty of it all.”

The significance of Pepsi’s choice to include the likes of Burna Boy and Anitta shouldn’t go unnoticed. The UCL final’s global presence presents a unique opportunity for cultural exchange as well as the promotion of inclusion and unity – particularly off the pitch. By placing the biggest Afrobeats and Latin American artists on the same stage for a European final, Pepsi made a concerted effort to bring together and showcase diverse communities through the universal language of music and sport. The ‘Kick Off Show’ by Pepsi epitomises the power of convergence culture, and how two of the world’s greatest passions transcend borders and work concurrently to foster a sense of togetherness. “Football and music feed off each other” explains Burna Boy. “You hear the chants in the stadiums at games, and the music when players come onto the pitch – it gets everyone buzzing. It’s all part of the culture of football. Pepsi always nail it; they’ve worked with some of the biggest football and music legends who have changed the game. And now with the Kick Off Show, it’s about bringing football and music fans together through one performance, it’s really special.”

Pepsi’s ‘Kick Off Show’ represents football’s best chance at creating a cross-cultural moment in the sport, and that shouldn’t be understated. For decades the NFL’s Super Bowl has held that mantle, but football is slowly realising the role it can play creating culturally disruptive and unifying moments. For example, Burna Boy’s inclusion at this year’s UCL final helped to further cement Afrobeats growing popularity in mainstream music. As ‘Last Last’ and ‘It’s Plenty’ echoed around Istanbul’s Atatürk Olympic Stadium, Nigerian music, costume, dance and culture was put on the main stage for all to appreciate. Similarly, the Queen of Brazilian Funk, Anitta, showcased the vibrancy of South American song whilst also using her platform to support fellow brazilian Vinícius Júnior, who’d recently experienced – yet again – racism.

To some, the ‘Kick Off Show’ would have simply been deemed a fun and exciting music event, to others, it represented the power of diversity and inclusion, as well as the role both football and music have to play in bringing that to the forefront of society.