Who Are Linkin Park? Champions League Final Performers, Opening Song, Legacy | OneFootball

Linkin Park, one of the most iconic rock bands of the last 25 years, headline the 2025 UEFA Champions League Final Kick Off Show on Saturday.

The Champions League final, kicking off May 31 at 3 p.m. ET/8 p.m. BST, features Paris Saint-Germain taking on Inter Milan at the Allianz Arena in Munich. Before the game gets underway, Linkin Park will have a live performance debuting a special remix of their hit song, Numb, to commemorate the occasion.

Musical performances have a special soccer events and finals, but this isn't Linkin Park's first rodeo. Nor is it new for the band to create either a new song, or remix in this instance, for an event. The band recently collaborated with Riot Games on their song, Heavy is the Crown, as the anthem for the League of Legends World Championship. The band performed the song live as part of an opening ceremony in London.

Here's everything you need to know about the opening act of the Champions League final: Linkin Park.

Who Are Linkin Park?

Linkin Park are an America rock band first founded in 1996. The band's current touring lineup is:

The band rose to prominence through their debut album Hybrid Theory with pulsating sounds of nu metal infused with Shinoda's rapping and Chester Bennington's clean and screaming vocals. From 2000–2017, the band released seven studio albums with chart-topping hits along the way. Bennington died in 2017 aged 41 with his passing ruled a suicide. The band would go on to play a tribute concert featuring multiple artists celebrating his life before going on hiatus.

During said hiatus, the band reissued albums featuring previously unreleased tracks.

The band returned seven years later with a surprise livestreamed event introducing Dead Sara's Emily Armstrong as the band's newest vocalist. They would go on to release their eighth album, From Zero, which reached the number two spot on the US Billboard 200. It would top Billboard's Top Rock Albums chart.

A brief summary of 25 years, but there's no understating the band's impact on culture and the music industry over the years. Casual fans might remember the band's featuring on Transformers soundtracks including What I've Done and New Divide.

What Song Are Linkin Park Performing for the Champions League Final?

UEFA and the band announced they'll perform a remix of Numb, but not just any remix. One different to the version they put out with Jay-Z years ago. Instead, this remix is inspired by the sounds of the sport.

“We wanted to put our spin on it and do something based around the sounds of football. It's built on the sounds of the foot hitting the ball, the ball hitting the net, the fans stomping in the seats. These are the things that, when I've been to a match, strike you as the powerful musical elements of being there,” Shinoda said in an interview with UEFA.

Are Linkin Park Soccer Fans?

Farrell, the band's bassist, is the biggest fan of the sport in the group. He stated in the same UEFA interview that he's coached his daughters which has helped him fall in love with the beautiful game.

"Playing soccer in the U.S., it's always been a thing a lot of people did as kids so it's always been a bigger sport than people give it credit for internationally. The game has grown more and more in the U.S. and now with [Lionel] Messi coming it's put a different focus and lens globally on what's going on here. I think there's so much room and upside for U.S. soccer, football, to grow and I think having a generational talent playing here makes that so much more readily available and visible," Farrell said.

The bassist goes on to state the importance of the U.S. men's national team putting together a strong performance in the competition.