FIFA World Cup Theme Songs And Anthems

World Cup winners and incredible goals are often what we reminisce about from previous tournaments, but there’s also another that hits a different tune in our nostalgia: anthems.

The first official anthem of a World Cup came in 1962 when Chile hosted the quadrennial tournament. Los Ramblers’ “El Rock del Mundial” song, which translates to “The Rock of the World Cup”, was the first ever anthem.

Since then, having an anthem has become a World Cup tradition. Sometimes there will be one song translated to different languages, but since 2002, multiple artists curate songs in different languages that are used for promotional purposes, with one song being dubbed the “official” version.

For the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, “Hayya Hayya” by Trinidad Cardona, Davido and Aisha became the first song to be released from the tournament’s soundtrack while Lil Baby’s “The World is Yours to Take” is the official Budweiser anthem of the tournament.

FIFA World Cup Theme Songs And Anthems

FIFA World Cup anthems and songs are tunes and songs adopted officially to be used as warm-ups to the event, to accompany the championships during the event and as a souvenir reminder of the events as well as for advertising campaigns leading for the World Cup, giving the singers exceptional universal world coverage and notoriety.

The songs chosen are usually multilingual using English, the official language of the organizing country, as well as other world languages, most notably Spanish. The official versions also results in cover versions in many other languages by the original artist or by local artists.

FIFA World Cup Official albums:

FIFA World Cup Theme Songs:

World Cup: 2022
Country: Qatar
Title: Hayya Hayya (Better Together)
Language: English
Performer: Trinidad Cardona, Davido and Aisha
Writer & Producers: Trinidad Cardona, Steph, Nadir Khayat, Pat Devine, Mehdi Bouamer, Adil Khayat / RedOne
Link:

World Cup: 2018
Country: Russia
Title: Live It Up (Official Song)
Language: English, Spanish
Performer: Nicky Jam featuring Will Smith and Era Istrefi
Writer & Producers: Nicky Jam, Will Smith, Era Istrefi / Diplo
Link:

World Cup: 2014
Country: Brazil
Title: We Are One (Ole Ola) (Official Song)
Language: English, Portuguese, Spanish
Performer: Pitbull featuring Jennifer Lopez & Claudia Leitte
Writer & Producers: Jennifer Lopez, Claudia Leitte, Pitbull, Thomas Troelsen / Danny Mercer, Sia Furler, Lukasz Gottwald, Henry Walter, Nadir Khayat
Link:

World Cup: 2010
Country: South Africa
Title: Waka Waka (Official Song)
Language: English, Spanish, Fang
Performer: Shakira featuring Freshlyground
Writer & Producers:Shakira, Freshlyground
Link:

World Cup: 2006
Country: Germany
Title: The Time of Our Lives (Official Song)
Language: English, Spanish
Performer: Il Divo featuring Toni Braxton
Writer & Producers: Jörgen Elofsson & Steve Mac|-
Link:

World Cup: 2002
Country: South Korea / Japan
Title: Boom (Official Song)
Language: English
Performer: Anastacia
Writer & Producers: Anastacia, Glen Ballard
Link:

World Cup: 1998
Country: France
Title: La Copa de la Vida (The Cup of Life) (Official Song)
Language: English, Spanish
Performer: Ricky Martin
Writer & Producers: Desmond Child and Robi Rosa
Link: