Pop music accompanies every World Cup. Here are some of the songs that celebrated the German team over the past 45 years, along with a playlist to get everyone in the spirit of the game.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
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8 German soccer anthems
A soccer world championship is almost unthinkable without songs accompanying the event. Here are some of the songs that celebrated the German team over the past 45 years.
Image: Youtube.com
Fussball ist unser Leben
In 1973, Germany's national soccer team recorded its first song, "Soccer is our life," for the World Cup held in West Germany a year later. Pictured above are Bernd Franke, Jupp Heynckes, Gerd Müller, Jupp Kapellmann, Uli Hoeness, Franz Beckenbauer and Sepp Maier. At the time of the recording, they didn't know yet that it would become the soundtrack of the country's first victory in 20 years.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
Buenos Dias Argentina
In 1978, the German team recorded another song, this time accompanied by pop star Udo Jürgens. Their anthem for the World Cup in Argentina became a hit in Germany once again. On the soccer field, however, things didn't turn out well. The Germans were beaten in the preliminary round. Austria dubbed its victory "the miracle of Cordoba," while the Germans remember the match as the "shame of Cordoba."
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Mexico mi Amor
During the World Cup in Mexico in 1986, the German team was accompanied by schlager star Peter Alexander. Once again, Germany reached the finals only to loose, this time, against Argentina. The spirit of Argentinian captain Diego Maradona was apparently stronger than the song. During the quarter finals, Maradona had already released his "divine powers" against the British team.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/H. Reeh
Dieser Weg
The song to the "Sommermärchen" (Summer fairy tale), or the 2006 World Cup in Germany, wasn't an official anthem, but rather an incidental hit. Center forward Gerald Asamoah was in charge of the music. And for each game, he played Xavier Naidoo's ballad. That worked out well – until the semi finals against Italy. Even though the Germans lost, they were seen as the "world champion of hearts."
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/S. Kugler
Auf uns
The song composed by Andreas Bourani only became a World Cup hymn after being played so often by public TV broadcaster ARD that the lyrics, "Ein Hoch auf uns, auf dieses Leben" ("Cheers on us, on this life"), were stuck in every German's head. There was good reason to cheer on July 13, 2014: Germany won the tournament, defeating Argentina 1-0.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/J. Wolf
Auf geht's, Deutschland schiesst ein Tor
Melanie Müller was once a porno star and a contestant on the German version of The Bachelor and has become a cherished guest at wild parties in Mallorca. And that's how, at the 2014 World Cup, the TV personality was chosen for the song whose title translates as "There you go — Germany scores a goal." She created a fantastic mood, but certainly not a memorable anthem.
Image: picture-alliance/Geisler-Fotopress/K. Werner
Moskau
Schlager composer Ralph Siegel (at the bottom, fourth from right) recently revived an old project. His old successful band Dschinghis Khan recorded the 1979 hit "Moskau" anew, and in several languages — German, English, Spanish and Russian in order to reach the entire world during the 2018 World Cup in Russia.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/M. Balk
Zusammen
Hip hop band Die Fantastischen Vier and singer Clueso have already landed a hit with "Zusammen" (Together). Once again pushed by football broadcaster ARD, the song quickly became an earworm. After Germany's victory against Sweden in the preliminary round, a wordplay was added to it. Honoring soccer star Toni Kroos, the original "zusammen groß" (Big together) was turned into "zusammen Kroos."
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Soccer stars Franz Beckenbauer, Sepp Maier, Wolfgang Overath and the entire German team stiffly stood around a microphone, singing or humming along Germany's official World Cup song that year, "Fussball ist unser Leben" (Football is our life), which included inspired lyrics translating as "Football is our life, because king football rules the world!"
Some soccer players even produced their own hits in the 1960s, including Franz Beckenbauer with "Gute Freunde" (good friends) and Sepp Maier with "Die bayerische Loreley" (the Bavarian Loreley).
Legendary goalkeeper Radi Radenkovic sang "Bin i Radi, bin i König" (Am I Radi, I am king) and Gerd Müller, accompanied by a children's choir, performed "Dann macht es Bumm" (Then it goes boom).
Fortunately, times have changed. Nowadays, the players of Germany's national team concentrate on the field instead of the sound studio.
There are of course some exceptions, such as Lukas Podolski performing an anthem to his home town, Cologne, with his "Kölsch" rock band — or Jerome Boateng rapping about soccer, its clichés and rituals together with British comedian Jack Whitehall.
Shakira sings "Waka Waka"Image: picture-alliance/dpa/J. Hrusa
Truly successful soccer songs are usually composed by established musicians. Their recipe is quite simple. Take famous pop stars, write a cheerful song for them, compose a melody that people can easily tune into and add a bit of stadium atmosphere.
That's how world hits like the 2010 song "Waka Waka," performed by Shakria and the African multi-culti band Freshlyground during the World Cup in South Africa, were created. Another example is "We are one" for the World Cup in Brazil in 2014, by Pitbull, Jennifer Lopez and Claudia Leitte.
While FIFA is responsible for these official World Cup songs, each country also produces its own anthem for the international soccer competition.
Groovy earworms
The secret summersuperhitof the World Cup 2018 is broadcast over and over again by Germany's public TV broadcaster ARD. The song"Zusammen" (Together) is the product of a cooperation between hip hop group Die fantastischen Vier and singer Clueso.
The catchy tune is a number 1 hit — guaranteed.
Our Spotify playlist features soccer songs of the last decades.
