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ATLANTA — England and Argentina are two fanbases that, maybe more than any other, love to sing.
They sing about their history, past legends, and current superstars. They sing about other fanbases, including one another. They belt out popular songs that they have claimed as their own and make up songs in the moment. They occasionally sing songs that are undeniably offensive.
Wednesday’s match in Atlanta reignites one of the fiercest rivalries in sports, one where both sides feel slighted for past wrongs incurred on and off the pitch.
Already on Tuesday night and Wednesday morning, songs from both fanbases filled the streets, bars, and hotels of Atlanta.
Both countries’ fan sections take popular melodies and give them new lyrics about soccer, history, and their rivals. Argentina has many lengthy songs forming a large canon that gets updated for every World Cup, where England stitches together short chants, or simply claims a pop song.
The players love it.
After England’s quarterfinal win, players put their arms around each other and sang “Wonderwall” with supporters in Miami.
Argentine players often go viral at major tournaments for singing popular songs after World Cup wins in the locker room, and those songs often include racist or controversial lyrics.
After winning the Copa América last summer, Argentina’s players sang, “They play for France, but their parents are from Angola. Their mother is from Cameroon, while their father is from Nigeria. But their passport says French.” France’s soccer federation called the song “racist and discriminatory.” (English soccer fandom has its own extensive history of racist abuse.)
While slightly more benign, the Argentine players avoided sanctions for singing a song that contained a “for the Malvinas” line after beating Egypt. The Malvinas are the Argentine name for the Falkland Islands, the site of an England-Argentina war that looms over Wednesday’s game. References to the islands are common in Argentine supporters’ songs.
Here’s a quick breakdown of each side’s musical prowess:
Short Songs, ‘It’s Coming Home,’ and ‘Wonderwall’
The shorter tunes are the most distinctive part of English soccer singing.
English supporters sing chants constantly for their local clubs, and that tradition seamlessly comes with them when rooting for the national team. Set to common melodies and easy rhythms, the lyrics aren’t hard to pick up.
Sometimes the lines repeat between matches, for example: “Football’s coming home again with Thomas Tuchel!” Other times the lyrics are made up on the fly, like a diss to Norway after knocking them out in the quaterfinal: “They’ll be no fucking rowing in New York!” One of the most famous chants is “Don’t Take Me Home,” which repeats the same five lines over and over.
The songs are not always cordial, and are at times uncouth toward women in particular. Wherever I’ve encountered English fans this summer, they’ve been fashioning songs into attacks on Scotland, which didn’t advance out of the group stage.
While the chants are ever-present at an England match, supporters also have longer pieces in their songbook. The Football Association has for years commissioned groups to make songs, the most famous of which is “Three Lions,” which was a humorous song written by two comedians ahead of the 1996 Euros, but has increasingly been earnestly adopted by England fans since 2018. The song blasted over the loudspeakers of Estadio Azteca after England beat Mexico in the round of 16.
English supporters also claim popular songs as their own. They sing The Beatles’ “Hey Jude” for midfielder Jude Bellingham, and Oasis’ “Wonderwall” is a post-win staple.
Long Histories, Maradona, and ‘Pushing the Team Forward’
Argentina, on the other side, likes more elaborate songs.
Some have been passed down through the generations, while others catch like wildfire on social media. While they are often set to popular tunes, the songs have full verses and choruses. New songs appear for each World Cup, like “Muchachos” in 2022 and “La Cuarta Estrella” in 2026.
Many of Argentina’s songs lean into history and the country’s legends. Common themes are the late Diego Maradona, superstar Lionel Messi, and the 1982 Falklands War. The ending of “La Cuarta Estrella,” a song about winning another World Cup to get a “fourth star” on the kit, sums it up well:
“Por Malvinas, por el Diego, por la última de Leo,
Argentina quiero verte bicampeón.”
(“For the Falklands, for Diego, for Leo’s last one,
Argentina I want to see you be a double champion.”)
On the night before every match, Argentine supporters gather to wave flags, bang drums, and sing their songs at a celebration they call a banderazo. The singing continues into the match as part of a duty to the team.
“It’s more of a celebration from beginning to end and they don’t stop singing for 90 minutes, and they feel that they play a part in the game and they push the team forward,” CBS Sports Golazo analyst Stefano Fusaro, who is of Argentine descent, tells Front Office Sports.
Like the English, Argentines also make things up on the fly, like when a fan lost his wallet and supporters chanted his name until he appeared, then cheered and broke out in song. Also like the English, the songs are not always above board.
The song with racist (and anti-gay) lyrics about French players started at the 2022 World Cup, and Argentina’s Enzo Fernández made a public apology after he posted a video with teammates singing the song after winning the Copa América in 2024.
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