Despite my open cynicism over the ‘soccer’ FOOTBALL World Cup being held (in part) in the USA I’m still excited by the prospect of watching football, reading about football and talking about football constantly for the next month … and some.

We like our football, here in the UK – and Scotland in particular.

But not everything about this sporting festival is to be celebrated. FIFA, for one. (And the organisation’s ‘leader’ especially. What a fud!) The ticket prices! The transport costs for fans. The inevitable political interference. The perpetual faffing about with the games rules.

And VAR! Now, don’t start me on VAR!!!!

But you know what’s the most disappointing and sad thing about World Cup 2026? The dearth of official / playing squad songs.

Scotland does have great offering from Belle and Sebastian, which I’ve snuck in at the end of this post 😉 but while it still captures the mood, it’s not quite the same, is it? I mean, it’s missing that cringe factor; that cheesy refrain and dodgy barely-rhyming lyrics.

We produced some belters back in the ’70s, didn’t we? They were usually a stomping mix of overt jingoism, balanced with a heavy load of self deprecation. They were often sung (loosely speaking) by the team’s playing squad, perhaps with the added contribution of a well-known personality from that country.

And it wasn’t just us here in the UK who bought into this notion of releasing a 7″ single to mark the country’s participation in the biggest football tournament of all.

Here’s a selection of some others I managed to track down.

(Let me know your favourite from this wee compilation in the Comments, below.)

1970 WORLD CUP (MEXICO)

PERU: ‘Peru Campion’ by Ases del Peru

The song dynamically listed the entire starting lineup of the team in its rhythm—ensuring players like Teófilo Cubillas and Héctor Chumpitaz (two players who would, erm, scunner Scotland some eight years later 😉🤣) were forever immortalized on vinyl.

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BRAZIL: ‘Pra Frente’ – written by Miguel Gustavo and performed by various vocal groups.

This was originally written for a contest to decide on an anthem for the country’s team. Performed by various vocal groups, the song itself sold massively in Brazil.

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ENGLAND: ‘Back Home,’ by The England World Cup Squad.

I may not be English, but I love this song – takes me right back, it does.😉 And I still remember every word (Not that they’re terribly deep or complicated!)
Scotland may not have made it to Mexico, but this classic football anthem was written by Scottish songwriter Bill Martin together with Phil Coulter. (The pair also wrote ‘Puppet on a String’ for Sandie Shaw and ‘Congratulations’ for Cliff Richard.)

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1974 WORLD CUP (WEST GERMANY)

WEST GERMANY: ‘Fußball ist unser Leben’ by The West Germany World Cup Squad

This is very ‘German Bierkeller’ isn’t it? This rousing anthem became a massive hit in Germany and is still played today at football grounds around the country. In 1974 West Germany won the World Cup. I was on holiday with my parents in Spain and my dad and I watched the final in a German Bierkeller. This song was on repeat on the juke box and the German fans were giving it ‘laldy’ as we say in Scotland! 😀

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POLAND: ‘Futbol’ by Maryla Rodowicz

Interesting, this one. It was written specifically for the tournament’s celebration, not for the Poland national football team. However, Maryla was invited to perform the song ‘live’ in the Olympiastadion in Munich at the World Cup opening ceremony. This of course was a pretty big deal in the days of the Cold War and the Berlin Wall.
It was also the golden age for Polish football, and they finished third in the competition, beating the mighty Brazil along the way. And so, in a roundabout kind of way, this song was forever associated with The Team of ’74.

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SCOTLAND: ‘Easy, Easy’ by The Scotland Football Squad.

(Not a great recording, I’m sorry.)
This Glam Rock inspired stomper reached #20 in the UK charts in June 1974. Sadly, the tournament wasn’t quite as ‘Easy Easy’ as had been hoped, with Scotland being the first team in World Cup history to have been eliminated from the initial stage without losing a game!
Great song, all the same!

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1978 WORLD CUP (ARGENTINA)

ARGENTINA: ‘Marcha del Mundial ’78’ by Banda Sinfónica de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires.

Again, not a ‘squad’ effort, but an interesting story as to how this became to be the unofficial Argentina team anthem.
FIFA and Argentina’s World Cup organising committee wanted a high-profile name to compose / perform the tournament anthem. So, they just went out and hired Ennio Morricone, no less! Yeah, he of Spaghetti Western fame. He came up with the now familiar ‘El Mundial’ … but it was instrumental and didn’t resonate with the fans. It was a bit ‘high brow’ and detached from a football crowd, though it was used extensively during television coverage.
Instead, they adopted the track that was on the B-side to Morricone’s effort.
As you can hear, it is a BIG sound, very bombastic and has lyrics that the supporters could bellow to their hearts’ content.

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THE NETHERLANDS: ‘Nederland, die heeft de bal.‘ by Andre Van Duin.

No, wait! I know from the initial image above, this looks like some embarrassing, cheesy pop effort released by some joker … well … ok, I suppose it is. But it’s quite catchy. Dutch comedian Andre Van Duin recorded it with the Netherlands World Cup Squad and with the country reaching their second successive World Cup Final (despite Scotland beating them with ‘THAT’ goal 😉) the record became a massive anthem back home.

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SCOTLAND (again): ‘Ally’s Tartan Army’ by Andy Cameron.

Probably the ultimate, quintessential football fans’ World Cup anthem! Sure, it’s another that was not recorded by the team itself which saved even more embarrassment as they returned home in disgrace. But all us fans bought into both the dream, and especially the song.
The single sold over 360,000 copies, spent eight weeks in the UK charts and peaked at #6.
Ah well – at least someone achieved some success on the back of Scotland qualifying that year.

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(Post by Colin ‘Jackie’ Jackson from Glasgow – June 2026)