Iraqi-born singer Emmanuel Kelly among World Cup half-time show headliners

Emmanuel Kelly's path to performing at one of football's most prominent stages began in Baghdad, where he was discovered abandoned as a baby and raised by nuns at Mother Teresa's orphanage. Kelly was born with severely underdeveloped limbs, a condition he shared with another boy named Ahmed whom he befriended at the facility.

In 1998, Australian Catholic humanitarian worker Moira Kelly visited the orphanage and witnessed the boys' circumstances. Determined to help, she worked for two years to arrange their transfer to Australia for medical treatment. The brothers arrived in 2000, underwent multiple surgeries to enable prosthetic limb use, and were adopted by Moira that same year, becoming Australian citizens in 2009.

Kelly's entertainment career began in 2011 when he competed on the Australian version of The X Factor at age 17. His performance of John Lennon's "Imagine" generated significant online viewership, though he was eliminated after forgetting lyrics during a later performance. In 2016, Coldplay's Chris Martin discovered Kelly through a video and invited him to perform at a Melbourne concert, beginning a friendship that led to Kelly joining Coldplay's 2024 Music of the Spheres stadium tour in Australia.

Martin was subsequently asked by FIFA to curate the half-time show at the Club World Cup final at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, where he selected Kelly as one of the performers. Kelly will share the stage with global artists including Shakira, BTS, Justin Bieber, and Madonna.