{"id":2506568,"date":"2026-07-17T20:20:21","date_gmt":"2026-07-17T20:20:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2506568"},"modified":"2026-07-17T20:20:21","modified_gmt":"2026-07-17T20:20:21","slug":"robbie-williams-shares-new-version-of-official-fifa-anthem-desire-featuring-nicole-scherzinger-and-laura-pausini-ahead-of-world-cup-final","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/robbie-williams-shares-new-version-of-official-fifa-anthem-desire-featuring-nicole-scherzinger-and-laura-pausini-ahead-of-world-cup-final\/","title":{"rendered":"Robbie Williams shares new version of Official Fifa Anthem &#8216;Desire\u2019 featuring Nicole Scherzinger and Laura Pausini ahead of World Cup final"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div>\n<p><a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/artists\/robbie-williams\">Robbie Williams<\/a> has shared a new version of the Official Fifa Anthem \u2018Desire\u2019 ahead of the World Cup Final, and it sees him join forces with <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/artists\/nicole-scherzinger\">Nicole Scherzinger<\/a> and Laura Pausini.<\/p>\n<p>Last summer, <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/news\/music\/robbie-williams-confirmed-as-the-official-fifa-music-ambassador-3869809\">the singer was confirmed as the official Music Ambassador for the global football governing body<\/a>, and he <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/news\/music\/robbie-williams-shares-first-ever-official-fifa-anthem-desire-music-and-football-bring-people-together-like-nothing-else-3877629\">went on to drop the single with Laura Pausini<\/a> shortly afterwards as the first ever official <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/brands\/fifa\">FIFA<\/a> anthem.<\/p>\n<p>The two of them first played the song live together last July, breaking it out before a match between Chelsea and Paris Saint-Germain in MetLife Stadium in New Jersey. Later that year, Williams performed it again at the Final Draw for the FIFA World Cup 2026, performing it as a duet with Scherzinger.<\/p>\n<p>Now, ahead of his performance at the closing ceremony for the 2026 World Cup, Williams has released an all-new version of the track. While the original version just featured Williams and Pausini, the new version sees the two of them come together with the <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/artists\/the-pussycat-dolls\">Pussycat Dolls<\/a> singer, each sharing vocal duties and harmonising on the heartfelt chorus.<\/p>\n<div class=\"jeg_video_container jeg_video_content\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Desire (Official FIFA Anthem)\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/SneOq6ww8W8?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p>The three of them are set to perform the song live together for the first time at the closing ceremony on Sunday (July 19).<\/p>\n<p>Available to watch in the UK on BBC One, the ceremony will be held at the New York New Jersey Stadium, shortly before Spain kick off against Argentina. <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/news\/music\/post-malone-tom-cruise-jennifer-hudson-to-perform-at-world-cup-closing-ceremony-3957338\">Other performers lined-up for the ceremony include Post Malone, Tom Cruise and Jennifer Hudson<\/a>, and there is an expected TV audience of around two billion people worldwide.<\/p>\n<p>It was <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/news\/music\/watch-shakira-and-burna-boy-headline-2026-fifa-world-cup-opening-ceremony-in-mexico-city-3950349\">Shakira and Burna Boy who helped kick off the opening ceremony last month<\/a>, breaking out a rendition of \u2018Dai Dai\u2019. Other performers have included <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/news\/music\/watch-katy-perry-tyla-lisa-and-anitta-perform-at-the-fifa-2026-world-cup-us-opening-ceremony-3950681\">Future, Katy Perry<\/a>, <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/news\/music\/watch-alanis-morissette-and-michael-buble-kick-off-world-cup-at-star-studded-opening-ceremony-in-canada-3950661\">Michael Bubl\u00e9, Alanis Morissette<\/a> and <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/news\/music\/ellie-goulding-to-perform-at-half-time-of-england-vs-norway-world-cup-quarter-final-anything-could-happen-3956145\">Ellie Goulding<\/a>. The latter performed as England took on Norway at the quarter finals, and ultimately secured a 2-1 win.<\/p>\n<p>As well as the closing ceremony on Sunday, the World Cup final will also feature its first ever Halftime Show. <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/news\/music\/justin-bieber-joins-line-up-for-chris-martins-fifa-world-cup-final-halftime-show-alongside-madonna-shakira-and-bts-3955847\">Organised by Coldplay\u2019s Chris Martin<\/a>, the set will follow the same structure as at the Super Bowl, and feature performances from <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/artists\/justin-bieber\">Justin Bieber<\/a>, <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/artists\/madonna\">Madonna<\/a>, <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/artists\/shakira\">Shakira<\/a> and <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/artists\/bts\">BTS<\/a>.<\/p>\n<div class=\"jeg_video_container jeg_video_content\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Robbie Williams on working with Tony Iommi, new album &amp;apos;Britpop&amp;apos; and hanging out with Soft Play\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Cc2k2JYym9Y?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p>The event supports the <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.globalcitizen.org\/en\/projects\/fifa-global-citizen-education-fund\/\">FIFA Global Citizen Education Fund<\/a>, which is trying to raise $100million (\u00a374.5million) to enhance children\u2019s access to education and football worldwide.<\/p>\n<p>The inclusion of a Halftime Show has proved divisive with fans, however, and <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/news\/music\/the-cures-robert-smith-is-not-looking-forward-to-chris-martins-world-cup-halftime-show-3957397\">The Cure\u2019s Robert Smith is among those who have criticised it<\/a> \u2013 sharing a post on Instagram with the hashtag \u201c#pleasejustfuckoff\u201d, and <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/news\/music\/the-cures-robert-smith-expands-on-his-please-just-fuck-off-post-about-chris-martins-world-cup-halftime-show-3957577\">later sharing his views on the idea of Donald Trump handing over the trophy to the winning team<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Ahead of the final against Spain and Argentina on Sunday, tomorrow (Saturday July 18) will see England go head to head with France to compete for third place.<\/p>\n<p>As for Williams, his football collaborations go beyond the FIFA anthem too, and last month it was confirmed that <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/news\/music\/robbie-williams-port-vale-fc-front-of-shirt-partner-and-foundation-ambassador-3950613\">he had become the Foundation Ambassador and official front-of-shirt partner for Port Vale FC<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The pop icon is a life-long supporter of the football team, has signed a two-year partnership with them, and will have his his \u2018RW\u2019 mark feature on the front of their home and away shirts in both 2026\/27 and 2027\/28.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><script>\n  !function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s)\n  {if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod?\n  n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};\n  if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version='2.0';\n  n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0;\n  t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];\n  s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window, document,'script',\n  'https:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/fbevents.js');\n  fbq('consent', 'revoke');\n  fbq('init', '370979561341328');\n  fbq('track', 'PageView');\n<\/script><\/p>\n<p><em> \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em> \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.nme.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Robbie Williams has shared a new version of the Official Fifa Anthem \u2018Desire\u2019 ahead of the World Cup Final, and it sees him join forces with Nicole Scherzinger and Laura Pausini. Last summer, the singer was confirmed as the official Music Ambassador for the global football governing body, and he went on to drop the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2506569,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25179],"tags":[21940,386440],"class_list":["post-2506568","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-music","tag-pop","tag-world-cup"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Robbie-Williams-shares-new-version-of-Official-Fifa-Anthem-Desire.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2506568","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2506568"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2506568\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2506570,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2506568\/revisions\/2506570"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2506569"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2506568"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2506568"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2506568"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}