When is the 2014 FIFA World Cup ceremony being held?

WHY haven’t we heard anything about the 2014 FIFA World Cup opening ceremony? Who’s performing? What time is it on? How can we watch it?

FILE - In this May 18, 2014 file photo, Jennifer Lopez performs on stage at the Billboard Music Awards at the MGM Grand Garden Arena. FIFA officials say on Sunday, June 8, 2014 Jennifer Lopez won’t be performing the World Cup song along with co-artists Pitbull and Claudia Leitte in the opening ceremony of the 2014 World Cup on Thursday. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP, File)

WHY haven’t we heard anything about the 2014 FIFA World Cup opening ceremony?

Who’s performing? What time is it on? How can we watch it?

All your questions answered...

Pop superstar Jennifer Lopez, hundreds of dancers, drummers and gymnasts, and a paraplegic who will kick a football in a robotic suit will deliver a pre-match extravaganza on Friday morning from 4am (AEST) to open the World Cup.

Brazilian singer Claudia Leitte will perform the official World Cup song, We Are One, along with Lopez, rapper Pitbull and Brazilian drumming collective Olodum in the ceremony’s grand finale.

TITLE: We Are One: The official World Cup song SIZE: 650x366px CAPTION: We Are One: The official World Cup song

FIFA announced on Wednesday that Lopez would perform at the event, after it was initially thought she would pull out.

We Are One has been viewed more than 75 million times on YouTube, though some critics have panned it as a disappointing follow-up to World Cup classics like Ricky Martin’s Cup of Life in 1998 and Shakira’s Waka Waka in 2010.

More than 60,000 fans will be in Sao Paulo’s Corinthians Arena, including 12 heads of state, and around one billion people are expected to watch the opening ceremony and match between Brazil and Croatia on TV.

Jennifer Lopez will be the headline act at the 2014 FIFA World Cup opening ceremony.

The 25-minute ceremony will feature more than 600 artists, including acrobatic gymnasts, trampolinists, marshal arts-style capoeira performers and stilt walkers.

“The opening ceremony is a tribute to Brazil and its treasures: nature, people football,” Belgian artistic director Daphne Cornez said in a statement.

She said one of her goals was to showcase the diversity of the sprawling South American country of 200 million people.

But Cornez has kept most other details under wraps.

Australian viewers can watch the Opening Ceremony from 4am EST on SBS.