Soccer Sing-Along

Singing and soccer go together like peanut butter and jelly.  Watch any professional game in Europe or South America and you’ll hear the fans singing in the background through 90 minutes.

While there is some singing at games in the United States it just isn’t part of the soccer culture here.

So here are some good soccer songs.  Any additions to the list are welcome.

Ole

            Maybe the best known of them all, not belonging to any one team.  The best version I ever heard was at the USYSA Region I Tournament at University of Buffalo in July 1994 where our Medford Strikers U15 girls represented New Jersey.  As the teams marched into the stadium for the opening ceremonies, Ole sung over a rock version of the Grand March from Aida played over the sound system.  Whether you were a player, coach or spectator, if that didn’t get you pumped up you were probably dead.

The Fields of Athenry

            This relatively recent (1979) Irish folk ballad about the  Great Irish Famine was sung by Irish fans at the 1990 World Cup.  More recently it was sung at the end of Ireland’s elimination by Spain in the 2012 European Cup, prompting Spanish players to remark how the song had given them chills.  This is a recording from that game in Gdansk,  And here’s a more polished concert version by the Dubliners.

Marching On Together

            The song of British team Leeds United.

Glory Glory Man United

            Manchester is one of the best known teams in the world, and its fans sing this song to the tune of The Battle Hymn of the Republic.

Nur Nach Hause

            You haven’t lived until you’ve stood in the Berlin Olympic Stadium with 50,000 German fans singing this anthem of Hertha BSC Berlin after a 2-0 win over Bayern München.  We had that experience on a cold December night back in 2001.  The speed of the game was impressive, especially since Bayern had played in South America the previous Wednesday and Hertha in London on Thursday.  Here’s what the song looks like in the stadium, and here’s the studio version.

FC Bayern Stern Des Südens ("Star of the South")

           I’m not even sure if this is the “official” Bayern theme song, but it’s a great piece for the lyrics and the unbridled enthusiasm with which it’s sung. 

Here’s the chorus:

FC Bayern, Stern des Südens,

Du wirst niemals untergehen,

weil wir in guten, wie in schlechten Zeiten zueinander stehen,

FC Bayern, Deutscher Meister, ja so heißt er mein Verein,

ja so war es, und so ist es, und so wird es immer sein.

Which literally translated means:

FC Bayern, Star of the South,

You will never go under,

Because we stand by each other in good times just as in bad,

FC Bayern, German champion, yes that’s what my club is called,

Yes, it was and it is and it always will be.