Euro 2021: Queen, David Guetta, Shakira ... discover our top 10 football songs

On July 11 after the Euro final, regardless of the European champion team, Queen's “We Are the Champions” will ring in Wembley.

It has become a tradition, a symbol that illustrates the close links between football and music.

Every two years, during international competitions, the great classics reappear and thrill fans in stadiums and bars.

From Shakira to Vegedream via David Guetta, here is our Top 10 of the best football music.

"We Are the Champions", Queen (1977)

At the end of a concert, while their fans sing in chorus to thank them, the members of Queen have the idea to compose a song intended to be taken by the crowd at the end of their performance.

When he writes the lyrics, Freddie Mercury is inspired by the madness of a World Cup final and imagines a delirious audience ...

Thus was born in 1977 the essential “We Are the Champions”.

The success is immediate and phenomenal.

It resonates with OM's victory in the Champions League in 1993 in Munich (1-0 against AC Milan) and has been accompanying for many coronations, not only in football.

"Three Lions", The Lightning Seeds, David Baddiel & Frank Skinner (1996)

Unalterable anthem of the English supporters, "Three Lions" invaded Wembley Tuesday, June 29 before the shock against Germany (2-0).

Composed in 1996 for the Euro, the song still remains in the hearts of many fans today, for its very "Britpop" melody and its lyrics of a typically British humor.

Ian Broudie, frontman of The Lightning Seeds, wrote the song of a disappointed fan, as all English people have been since 1966. It evokes the frustration and endless regrets of lovers of a team that has won nothing since. the 1966 World Cup. "Three Lions" (nickname for the England team) is the first football song about defeat, not victory.

Still relevant 25 years later.

Unless…

Twenty-five years after its release, the hit "Three Lions" hasn't aged a bit.

Even the supporters take to heart his refrain. # ANGALL pic.twitter.com/NoMrTbjZZR

- Pierre-Etienne Minonzio (@Peminonzio) June 29, 2021

"Seven Nation Army", The White Stripes (2003)

During a sound test before a concert in Melbourne, Jack White, the guitarist of the White Stripes, accidentally connects a short melody that he imagines, with humor, as the ideal theme of the next James Bond.

Even if no one will ever offer him to compose a film score, he resumed the air in one of his songs: "Seven Nation Army".

This refrain was sung by supporters of Club Brugge in 2006, during a Champions League match against AC Milan.

Heady, he was adopted by Italian fans during the 2006 World Cup, punctuated by a victory for Squadra Azzurra in the final against the Blues of Zidane.

"Seven Nation Army" is now a classic sung in stadiums around the world.

'Bring the Cup Home', Vegedream (2018)

After the victory of the Blues against Belgium in the semifinals of the 2018 World Cup, Vegedream, a rapper then little known, decides to compose a title to ask them to "bring the cup home".

The song was not to be published before their victory but some players, friends of the rapper, leak some extracts immediately taken up by all of France.

“Bring the cup home” becomes, on July 12, 2018, the anthem of the world champions.

No one could escape his success or his heady words.

Even today, the song is repeated in many countries, especially in Germany, where the listening rate of the song is the highest (outside of France) according to data from Spotify.

"You'll Never Walk Alone", Gerry and the Pacemakers (1963)

When Liverpool FC manager Bill Shankly hears “You'll Never Walk Alone” for the first time, he becomes a fan.

Originally, the song was not a football anthem.

Composed in 1945 by two Americans, Oscar Hammerstein and Richard Rodgers, the piece is repeated many times.

This is the version of the group Gerry & The Pacemakers, which will catch the ear of the manager of the English club.

It is called the club's anthem and sung before every game at Anfield Road.

Thrills guaranteed.

Today, although being the signature of Liverpool, “You'll Never Walk Alone” is taken up by many clubs in Europe and even by FC Tokyo.

"Waka Waka", Shakira (2010)

Official song of the 2010 World Cup, Waka Waka, "Fais-le" in French, is a worldwide hit, sold over a million copies.

It remained for two months after its release at the top of the charts in more than 20 countries.

The track holds the record for the fastest and most widely sold title on music platforms for a World Cup anthem.

The star was inspired by a Cameroonian song.

She immediately played it on guitar to check if it was right for her: "That's how I realized this song is strong, when a song sounds great just with a guitar and a vocals, you know. that there is something.

"

"This One's For You", David Guetta and Zara Larsson (2016)

Official Euro 2016 anthem, "This One's For You", directed by David Guetta and performed by Swedish singer Zara Larsson, went through several stages before reaching its final version. The track was first recorded with American singer Ariana Grande. But some lyrics did not match the mindset of a football competition and were changed. Thus, the first lyrics, "We're Too Young to Die" (we are too young to die), become "We're Born to Fly" (We are born to fly).

“This One's For You” was produced in collaboration with Dutch DJ Afrojack, American singer Ester Dean and… thousands of fans who were able to record their voices on an app.

This choir appears in the final version.

Very catchy, the song was the target of some critics who regretted the lyrics in English while the Euro was being played in France.

"I Will Survive", Gloria Gaynor (1978)

"I Will Survive" still resonates in the hearts of many French people as the ode of the first coronation of the Blues in 1998. This song has yet made a long journey before reaching the ears of French players.

American Gloria Gaynor sang it for the first time in 1978. The planetary hit became an emblem of feminism and LGBT people.

Twenty years later, during a party in Saint-Tropez, Max Guazzini, then boss of NRJ, heard the song remixed by Hermes House Band and decided to make it the anthem of his rugby club, the Stade Français.

Vincent Candela, player of the France team, will adopt it and pass it on a loop in the locker room of future world champions.

Gloria Gaynor will then be baptized godmother of the Blues.

"We are The People", Martin Garrix, Bono and The Edge (2021)

For Euro 2020, the production of the official anthem has been entrusted to a young Dutch DJ, Martin Garrix.

To achieve the song, the DJ, ranked best DJ in the world for three consecutive years by DJ magazine, was able to rely on the legendary Bono and The Edge from the group U2.

The trio had carte blanche to produce the song: it was inspired by what football makes them feel and how it brings people together.

It took them three years to make the song ...

“Go Go Go Go”, Jamie Webster (2018)

“You'll Never Walk Alone” is the indisputable anthem of Liverpool FC.

Recently, however, supporters sing another song in the stands, signed Jamie Webster, singer from the same city: "Go Go Go Go".

The song was originally sung by supporters of Atlético de Madrid and other clubs.

It was picked up by two Liverpool supporters, Phil Howard and Liam Malone, who decided to write their own lyrics for it within minutes.

The song itself was picked up by other supporters, and it was in a game Liverpool won 5-0 that Jamie Webster heard the song. One of his friends, then present with him, advised him to resume the piece on the guitar. He played the song at Boss Night, posted the video on the Internet, and it quickly became a hit.