UEFA Champions League Anthem

UEFA Champions League Anthem

Official anthem of UEFA Champions League

Also known as Champions League
Lyrics Tony Britten, 1992
Music G F Handel, 1727
Adopted 1992

Music sample
The UEFA Champions League Anthem

The UEFA Champions League Anthem, officially titled simply as "Champions League", is the official anthem of the UEFA Champions League, with music taken from the G F Handel piece, Zadok the Priest, and given a modern arrangement (including lyrics written) by English composer Tony Britten in 1992.[1][2]

Composition

In 1992, UEFA commissioned Tony Britten to arrange an anthem for the UEFA Champions League which commenced in August 1992. He adapted Händel's Zadok the Priest (a Coronation Anthem), and the piece was performed by London's Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and sung by the Academy of St Martin in the Fields Chorus.[1] The chorus is in UEFA's three official languages: English, French and German.

Uses

The anthem's chorus is played before each UEFA Champions League game, as well as at the beginning and end of television broadcasts of the matches. Special vocal versions have been performed live at the Champions League final with lyrics in other languages, changing over to the host country's language for the chorus. These versions were performed by Andrea Bocelli (Italian) (Rome 2009), Juan Diego Flores (Peruvian) (Madrid 2010), All Angels (Wembley 2011), Jonas Kaufmann and David Garrett (Munich 2012), and Mariza (Lisbon 2014, unlike the previous final performer, Mariza sang the main lyric of the anthem). In 2013 final at Wembley Stadium, the chorus had played twice.

The complete anthem is about three minutes long, and has two short verses and the chorus. The anthem has been released commercially in its original version on iTunes with the title of Champions League Theme. Also, the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields chorus can be heard singing the original "Zadok the Priest" on the 2002 album World Soccer Anthems.[3]

Lyrics

Original

Ce sont les meilleures équipes
Sie sind die allerbesten Mannschaften
The main event
Die Meister'
Die Besten
Les Grandes Équipes
The Champions
Une grande réunion
Eine große sportliche Veranstaltung
The main event
Ils sont les meilleurs
Sie sind die Besten
These are the champions

Chorus (2x):

Die Meister
Die Besten
Les Grandes Équipes
The Champions

English

These are the best teams
They are the very best
teams
The main event
The champions
The best
The great teams
The champions
A large gathering
A great sporting
event
The main event
They are the best
They are the best
These are the champions

Chorus (2x):

The champions
The best
The great teams
The champions

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 UEFA Champions League anthem UEFA.com. Retrieved March 6, 2011
  2. ↑ Media, democracy and European culture p.129. Intellect Books, 2009. Retrieved March 6, 2011
  3. ↑ http://www.allmusic.com/album/r591944

External links