Soccer Pump Up Songs: Stadium Anthems and Pre-Game Tracks That Work

The best soccer pump up songs are the ones stadiums already use. They have a riff a crowd can sing without words, a beat that builds, and a history of working on match day.

Here are the proven stadium anthems, then original football hype tracks built for the warm-up.

The Short List

• Seven Nation Army by The White Stripes
• Freed From Desire by Gala
• Kernkraft 400 by Zombie Nation
• The UEFA Champions League anthem
• Three Lions by Baddiel, Skinner and The Lightning Seeds
• Sweet Caroline by Neil Diamond

The Stadium Anthems

Seven Nation Army (The White Stripes, 2003)

The most chanted riff in soccer. Club Brugge fans started singing it in October 2003 during a Champions League game against AC Milan, and Brugge won.

Roma fans picked it up after playing Brugge in 2006. Italy's national team used it on the road to the 2006 World Cup, and after Italy won the final the riff filled the streets of Rome.

It has been played at every European Championship since 2008, and before every game at the 2018 World Cup.

Freed From Desire (Gala, 1996)

A 1990s Eurodance hit, number one in France and number two in the UK. In May 2016 Wigan Athletic fan Sean Kennedy posted "Will Grigg's on Fire" to YouTube, set to Gala's tune.

It became the unofficial song of Euro 2016. Northern Ireland fans sang it all tournament, and supporters from England, Wales, France and Ireland wrote their own "on fire" versions for their players.

Kernkraft 400 (Zombie Nation, 1999)

A German techno track built on a 1984 Commodore 64 game tune. It peaked at number two in the UK and became one of the most played songs in American arenas.

It is used across soccer, baseball, basketball, hockey and football. Sports Illustrated ranked it eighth in its top 10 stadium anthems.

The UEFA Champions League Anthem (Tony Britten, 1992)

Tony Britten adapted it from Handel's Zadok the Priest, a coronation anthem. The chorus plays as the teams line up before every Champions League game.

The words are in English, French and German, UEFA's three official languages. For a lot of players it is the sound of the biggest nights in club soccer.

Three Lions (Baddiel, Skinner and The Lightning Seeds, 1996)

Written for Euro 96 in England. David Baddiel and Frank Skinner wrote the words and Ian Broudie wrote the music.

It went to number one in the UK in 1996, again as 3 Lions '98, and again in 2018 during England's World Cup run. Its "It's coming home" line became a chant in its own right.

Sweet Caroline (Neil Diamond, 1969)

Better known at Fenway Park, where it has played in the eighth inning of every Red Sox home game since 2002. England fans made it their song at Euro 2020, and it re-entered the UK chart in July 2021, 50 years after its first UK release.

It is the slow build and the big shared shout, not the tempo, that makes it work.

Original Football Hype Songs

The FootyTracks catalogue has songs written for exactly this: the walk in, the dressing room and the warm-up. Every one is in the Listen block above.

• England World Cup Song 2026, It's Coming Home: the hardest tempo in the catalogue, and the natural first pick for a pre-game playlist
• Declan Rice Song, It's Not Done: a title-race chant with a hook you can count reps to
• Gyokeres Song, Mask Back On: drift phonk built around his mask celebration
• Mbappe Song, Speed Demon: drift phonk for a forward built on pace
• Haaland Song, The Cheat Code: hip-hop for a striker whose numbers look like a cheat code
• Mexico World Cup Song 2026, Vamos: stadium noise from a home World Cup

The full sets are in the Football Hype Songs, Football Music for the Gym and Football Motivation Songs collections.

How to Build a Pre-Game Playlist

• Start slow and build: one anthem with a big shared chorus, then the tempo climbs
• End on the hardest track, timed to finish as the warm-up ends
• Pick songs with a riff or chant the whole team can shout, not just a beat
• For youth teams, use the clean versions; most streaming releases have one
• Keep it under 20 minutes so it runs once through the warm-up

For the chants fans sing in the stands, see Best Soccer Chants. For what the most famous chant of all means, see What Does Ole Ole Ole Mean?