PITCH PERFECT
Are you ready for a World Cup singalong? Marion McMullen checks out some sporting anthems
1 ENGLAND’S latest attempt to reclaim the football World Cup will not have an official soundtrack.
This year, the Football Association says it has not commissioned an official squad single or plans to endorse an unofficial song to mark the 2018 tournament which kicks off in Russia on June 14.
An FA spokesman said: “There is no official World Cup song planned.”
2 IN 2014, Gary Barlow’s reworking of Take That track Greatest Day, featuring stars of pop and English football, such as Pixie Lott and Gary Lineker, was dropped in the lead-up to the tournament. A video of Greatest Day was unveiled for Sport Relief but the single was never released.
3 ENGLAND did not have an official anthem in 2010 either, although Shout, an unofficial release featuring James Corden and Dizzee Rascal, above, managed to top the charts. The 2006 World Cup song World At Your Feet was released by Embrace and went to number three in the singles chart.
4 THE Spice Girls performed with Echo And The Bunnymen star Ian McCulloch on (How Does It Feel To Be) On Top Of The World for the 1998 World Cup. But it was outsold by a revamped version of the 1996 European Championships song – Three Lions 98, by David Baddiel, Frank Skinner and the Lightning Seeds – as well as by Vindaloo by Fat Les.
5 KING of skiffle Lonnie Donegan was singing about World Cup Willie in 1966 to help spur on the England football team to victory. Willie, a lion dressed in a Union Jack jersey with World Cup across the front, was England’s mascot for the sporting tournament. England, of course, famously went on to beat Germany 4 – 2 in the historic final at Wembley.
6 BACK Home saw the 1970 England World Cup squad on Top Of The Pops, below, with Bobby Moore, Alan Ball, Emlyn Hughes, Norman Hunter, Peter Bonetti and Martin Peters warbling away. The song went to number one in the charts.
7 SMOKIE band members Chris Norman and Peter Spencer wrote Head Over Heels In Love for footballer Kevin Keegan in 1979 and came up with This Time (We’ll Get It Right) for the England Squad in 1982. The squad sang: “We’re on our way, We are Ron’s twenty-two, Hear the roar, Of the red, white and blue.”
8 LIVERPOOL footballer John Barnes, below centre, rapped on 1990 anthem World In Motion with the England Squad, New Order and Keith Allen. The single was re-released for the 2002 FIFA World Cup, but didn’t chart.
9 TV presenters Ant and Dec, below, were responsible for England’s official world cup song in 2002 with We’re On The Ball. It featured the lyrics: “Red, white and blue the colours; The whole world in our hands; The time has come to kick it; Can we kick it? Yes, we can.”
10 MEN In Black star Will Smith, right, has recorded a song for this year’s tournament with fellow American Nicky Jam and Kosovo singer Era Istrefi called Live It Up, while Jason Derulo has recorded Colors as the Coca-Cola Anthem for the 2018 FIFA World Cup.