THE TOP 10 BEST WORLD CUP SONGS
By The Swag Team - May 28, 2014 
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The official 2014 World Cup song, We Are One (Ole Ola) by Pitbull and Jennifer Lopez has had football fans and almost everyone else tapping their feet and singing: ‘Put your flags up in the sky, wave them from side-to-side, show the world where you're from, show the world we are one,’ for the last month. But how does it compare to the best World Cup songs we’ve heard over the years? SWAG takes a trip down memory lane to hear the best official and individual country’s efforts.
Soccer-crazy British comedian Omid Djalili has created a catchy song for England supporters which may even end up overshadowing the official England song, a remix of the Take That number Greatest Day.
This was the soundtrack of Mexico ’86 and quite a few other non-football related events even here in Malta that hot, dusty summer. It can be easily recycled for any other World Cup – Dubai 2022 anyone?
This was the soundtrack of Mexico ’86 and quite a few other non-football related events even here in Malta that hot, dusty summer. It can be easily recycled for any other World Cup – Dubai 2022 anyone?
We really like this year’s Azzuri World Cup song, a slice of passionate Italian rock by the band that features a slow build up, typical of the country’s progress at big tournaments. We gave it extra brownie points because proceeds from its sale will go to research into Lou Gehrig's Disease, which has struck down many former footballers in that country.
The track that originated from the South African World Cup four years ago still fills dance floors at children’s parties (and hen nights) thanks to the peculiar dance that the artist created for it. But the song also seems to perfectly represent energy and a positive vibe for the African continent, so we won’t hold the dance against her.
Before New Order came up with this as the official England song of Italy ’90, most football songs seemed to be all based on fan chants or, worse, featured the players’ themselves as main vocalists (think: 1982’s This Time). But then an electro-rock legend came along and combined real music credibility with a rap by John Barnes and World Cup songs were never the same again.
The official FIFA song for the 1998 World Cup was one of the first anthems to stand out from the rest for its unique and catchy sound, a trend that has continued to this day. When you think World Cup-related music today, this is probably the type of song that will spring to mind.
Between 1996 and 1998, two British comedians, alongside the band The Lightning Seeds, got the entire country singing Three Lions, both at Euro ’96 and France ’98. Indulging in huge amounts of nostalgia, fans truly believed the ‘golden generation’ of Beckham, Scholes and Co. could take England to the heights of 1966 once again.
This 1990 gem still sends shivers down the spine of many a football fan from Malta as they are transported back to a classic World Cup held next door in Italy that featured the Three Tenors, a classic England vs Italy match for third place (where the two teams, *shock, horror* danced and saluted the crowd together at the end), Gazza’s tears and that goal Zenga let in against the Argentinians…
Fat Les’s (real name Keith Allen, father of current hitmaker Lily), ditty was the unofficial England song for France ’98. A subversive parody of the whole fan terrace chant genre, or possibly simply a hooligan's anthem, it combines easy to sing lyrics, a one-word chorus and a whiff of something good to drown your sorrows in after the match is over and England have, inevitably, been eliminated on penalties.
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