CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

What are the lyrics to the UEFA Champions League anthem? Who wrote it?

Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo are fans, others aren’t. The Champions League anthem was first introduced in 1992 after UEFA’s European Cup reform.

Update: Feb 22nd, 2023 07:46 EST

JESUS ALVAREZ ORIHUELADiarioAS

“The chaaaaaampioooooons!” Perhaps the one lyric of the UEFA Champions League anthem that English speakers are confident that they know (possibly ‘these are the champions’ too). You all know the one I’m talking about. It’s a song that has been the soundtrack to a considerable percentage of soccer fans’ lives on Tuesdays and Wednesdays for over 30 years, has inspired the likes of Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Zinedine Zidane and Pep Guardriola as they psyche themselves up for a big game and has sent shivers down all of our spines (maybe even those who aren’t fans for one reason or another…).

The Champions League anthem is as synonymous with the competition – if not more – as a Real Madrid comeback. It has been become one of the most iconic pieces of music in the world of sport – and maybe even beyond – which makes its somewhat modest origins and simple lyrics – in English, French and German – all the more surprising.

Cristiano Ronaldo won four Champions League titles at Real Madrid.JESUS ALVAREZ ORIHUELADIARIO AS

Who composed the UEFA Champions League anthem?

The anthem is the work of one man, who many of you will probably never have heard of. British composer Tony Britten studied at the Royal College of Music in London, initially working in theatre as a musical director and supervisor, which included a spell at the National Theatre in London. After moving into film and television, he was approached by UEFA in 1992 to compose an anthem for their reformed flagship competition as it transitioned from the European Cup to the Champions League.

“It’s not a total rip-off”

Britten has discussed how that came about and the inspiration for the classical music piece in past interviews. Speaking to his local newspaper the Croydon Advertiser in 2013, he revealed that the success of the World Cup in Italy in 1990 had played a big role in how he composed the song:

“I had a commercials agent and they approached me to write something anthemic and because it was just after The Three Tenors at the World Cup in Italy so classical music was all the rage. Hooliganism was a major, major problem and UEFA wanted to take the game into a completely different area altogether.

“There’s a rising string phase which I pinched from Handel and then I wrote my own tune. It has a kind of Handelian feel to it but I like to think it’s not a total rip-off.”

Real Madrid defeated Liverpool in 2022 Champions League final. GONZALO FUENTESDiarioAS

“The best sports music around”

Several members of the elite soccer world – including Messi, Ronaldo, Zidane and Guardiola – have spoken of the feelings that the anthem evokes. “Most recently it was the legendary Bayern Munich midfielder Stefan Effenberg, who I appeared with in a Champions League TV show last year. He told how it always gave him a shiver down his spine, and that he thought it was the best sports music around. I was very humbled by that,” said Britten in a later interview with FourFourTwo.

But despite the huge success the anthem has had, the composer doesn’t believe it’s his best piece of work. “Of course I’m proud of its popularity, but I don’t think it’s necessarily the best thing I’ve ever written. Would I change it? No, I don’t think so; I never pretend that it’s great art, but it’s good craft – it did exactly what the client wanted.”