Pop superstar Shakira has launched an online drive to celebrate the start of the soccer World Cup by urging fans across the globe to take pictures of themselves showing support for their national team.

The singer has recorded World Cup anthem La La La (Brazil 2014) and her boyfriend Gerard Pique is competing for Spain in the tournament, which kicks off in Brazil on Thursday (12Jun14).

She has now asked fans to show their own support for the event by taking a "flag-based selfie" and sharing them online using the tag #daretodream.

In a post on her Instagram.com page, she writes, "Are you daring to dream about your country's World Cup success? Send us a flag-based selfie using #daretodream plus the country code!"

Shakira has been re-posting the fan pictures on her social media accounts and adds in a later Instagram.com message, "We're Loving your #daretodream #WorldCup selfies - please keep tweeting and instagramming them (sic)."

The Hips Don't Lie hitmaker also posted her own "flag selfie" online - the snap shows her running and waving a flag from her native Colombia as a tiger snaps at her heels.