Robbie Williams has been accused of ‘shamefully legitimising’ Vladimir Putin’s ‘thuggish’ regime after the pop star agreed to perform at the World Cup opening ceremony.

Williams, 44, a singer in Take That before he embarked on a solo career, was unveiled on Monday as the headline act that signals the start of the tournament on Thursday. Williams will perform half an hour before the first match between Russia and Saudi Arabia kicks off on Thursday in front of President Putin. Campaigners urged the singer to pull out.

Williams said in an official Fifa statement it was his “boyhood dream” to open the World Cup in front of 80,000 fans in Moscow’s Luzhniki Stadium. “I’m so happy and excited to be going back to Russia for such a unique performance,” he said.

But Putin’s critics derided the English star for agreeing to the concert. He will be paid hundreds of thousands of pounds for the performance by Russian backers and by Fifa.

British dignitaries, including the Royal family and politicians, have stayed away from the tournament in protest at the nerve agent attack on Sergei and Yulia Skripal in Salisbury in Wiltshire in march.