The World Cup has a rich musical heritage, but you wouldn’t know it from most of the official anthems. They’re awful.
Shakira, Ricky Martin, Il Divo, R. Kelly (shudder), Will Smith, Nicky Minaj… it’s like a who’s who of pop stars to swerve.
Thankfully there also are some absolute bangers to celebrate – and from some proper musicians, too. Giorgio Moroder, New Order, Ennio Morricone and more have all lent their skills to the biggest football tournament in the world, and with some sublime results. Others are from lesser known artists, but they still get the three points from us.
Here are the best World Cup songs to listen to on a decent system.
El Rock Del Mundial – Los Ramblers (1962)
The first official World Cup anthem (for the 1962 tournament) translates as “The World Cup Rock” and they aren’t lying. It’s like a Chilean take on Chuck Berry, and is reportedly the best-selling Chilean single ever. But it could have been so different.
It was originally supposed to start with a saxophone solo, but the saxophonist overslept, and so the intro was improvised on the hoof. And thank goodness it was, otherwise we wouldn’t have this authentic slice of 60s Chilean rock.
As an official World Cup anthem, the lyrics are hardly impartial. But we’ll take “Get in! Complete it! Goal of Chile!” over the bland, unite-the-world bromides that FIFA usually approves of.
And while it might sound a bit rinky-dink by today’s standards, it adds a real authenticity that makes most modern football songs look like the over-produced blancmanges that they are. Stick it on at a barbecue, and watch the heads start to nod.
World In Motion – New Order (1990)
![New Order - World In Motion (Official Music Video) [HD Upgrade] - YouTube](https://img.youtube.com/vi/Re4aDJL3heA/maxresdefault.jpg)
New Order’s only UK number one single came in the form of an upbeat football song that’s a world away from the band’s gloomy days as Joy Division. But then we can’t imagine the sparse, post-punk sound would translate well to a World Cup single (though it might be more befitting of the England team’s performance).
Anyway, this is the one where John Barnes surprises everyone by doing quite a good rap. The original plan was for each member of the team to take turns singing a line, but that was abandoned like a drunk plan in the cold light of day.
It’s still a banger nearly 40 years on. Those euphoric strings – so 90s! – will test your system’s midrange, while that drum machine beat is a workout for the low end.
And if you don’t like it, just imagine Peter Beardsley having a crack at the rap and imagine how much worse it could have been.
Nessun Dorma – Luciano Pavarotti (1990)
This might be the climactic tenor aria from Puccini’s opera Turandot, but to those of us of a certain age, it’s the soundtrack to England losing on penalties to West Germany in the 1990 World Cup semi final in Italy.
Surprisingly, the song isn’t about Stuart Pearce and Chris Waddle’s misses – it’s sung by an unknown prince expressing his confidence that he will win the hand of a beautiful but cold-hearted princess.
Legendary tenor Luciano Pavarotti puts in quite a performance, and you’ll need a system with sufficient scale to do it justice – those soaring strings just won’t sound the same on a sub-par system.
A word of warning – if you see any men of a certain age weeping at the sound of it, you can rest assured they’re not caught up in the drama of the Puccini opera, but reliving a particularly traumatic penalty shootout from their youth.
Viva Moldova! – Satoshi
Where flutes meet banging techno, in what is a surprisingly good fit. This was Moldova’s entry to this year’s Eurovision, and it fared very well, coming eighth, with 226 points (which is 225 more than the UK’s entry).
Now, we must make the disclaimer that this isn’t actually a World Cup song, and that Moldova failed to qualify for this year’s tourney. But it’s a shame, as it’s definitely chant-worthy.
This kind of footstomping choon could easily tip over into nationalist chest thumping, but thanks to some decidedly silly lyrics (“Moldova is on duty!”) it manages to be both terrace-friendly and inclusive at the same time, which is quite a feat.
Ramenez La Coupe À La Maison – Vegedream (2018)
Now this one’s cheating. French rapper Vegedream released this single a few days after the French team triumphed at the 2018 World Cup in Russia. Which doesn’t show a huge amount of faith in the team – presumably had they not won, he would have quietly shelved the single until a later date.
The title translates as “Bring the cup back home”, which is a less catchy version of “It’s coming home”. Vegedream name-checks players from the team throughout the song, in between the chanty chorus of “Allez Les Bleus!” It’s just a shame about the auto-tune.
El Mundial – Ennio Morricone (1978)
Yes, that Ennio Morricone. In 1978, the master of the spaghetti western turned his hand to a World Cup song. By that point, he had already scored Sergio Leone’s Dollars Trilogy, and so was firmly established as a major figure in motion-picture audio.
A World Cup might be a world away from the grittiness of the Old West, but it’s still a high-stakes drama – and Morricone rose to the challenge admirably. It sounds a little twee to begin with, but El Mundial soon builds to a rousing chant thanks to the introduction of some horns. We can imagine this one being sung all along the terraces of host-nation Argentina and beyond.
To Be Number One – Giorgio Moroder (1990)
Synth ace Giorgio Moroder went all power ballad for the 1990 World Cup, with some soaring electric guitars and throaty vocals. The lyrics might sound like a poor translation (“This is what we’ve worked for all our lives / Reaching for the highest goal we can”), but when the chorus kicks in you can practically feel the perm.
Perhaps buoyed by the success of To Be Number One, the official song of the next World Cup (USA, 1994) was Gloryland, which walks a very similar bemulleted line. Sadly, instead of being number one, that was more of a number two.
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