Posted on   |   Category: Music   |   Tags: , , , ,   |  

Last of the posts looking at songs done in relation to teams that are participating at Euro 2016.

Group F: Portugal, Iceland, Austria and Hungary.

(As I said songs related to the teams, but not neccessarily about their Euro 2016 exploits)

PORTUGAL

Just like the last World Cup it all depends on whether CRon wants to carry this lot again. This might be his last major tournament (he’ll be 33 by the time the next WC comes around) so he might want to go out on a high note. Portugal are in a group with an emerging Austria team, the others are there to make up the numbers sadly. The winner of Group F would play the runner up in Group E, which includes Belgium, Italy, Ireland and Sweden. There might be an exit as soon as they get to the knockout phase.

Who could represent and sing on behalf of Portugal then ? Well of course there is only one man:

He did this for an advert for a bank for some reason. Of course that reason is money but anyway…

Another one: As you can see I didn’t find anything done for the Portugal team. There’s this done by Nelly Furtado which was the official theme for Euro 2004 which was held in Portugal:

» Nelly Furtado – Força (Euro 2004 Theme)

How did a Canadian end up doing the official song ?

Via Wikipedia:
“Furtado said about the song: “When I was touring in Portugal, people would frequently say goodbye to me by saying “Força”, which is Portuguese slang. It translates as “Keep going”, or “Kick ass”. It’s also associated with sports, especially football. I put a feminine twist on the idea of how you feel when you’re watching your favorite team. When you tie that into nationality, it becomes pretty intense. So this is a happy song, a burst of energy. Plus, we have Béla Fleck playing on the song. His contribution here is amazing.”

ICELAND

Making their debut in these championships. (Along with Wales, Slovakia, Northern Ireland and Albania) They finished runners up in the group that included the Czech Republic and they beat out the Netherlands – and also beat them, twice. Most of their players play their domestic league football in the Scandanavin countries. Whilst they are a tidy, disiplined team, they aren’t the most spectacular. Here to make up the numbers.

There isn’t any music done for Iceland at Euro 2016. The obvious candidate and a wish of mine is that Bjork would do something. The former Iceland international Gudni Bergsson has said the same thing. But so far sadly there’s nothing. Keeping our fingers crossed.

AUSTRIA

Prevously one of the minnow teams until the European Union expanded. Surprisingly this is only their 2nd appearance in the European finals. The other was in 2008 – when they were co-hosts with Poland. Their experience in their host tournament was one that they don’t want be reminded about. They ended up in a group along with Croatia, Germany and Poland. They lost two games and drew with their co-hosts and both of them were out early. This time though they have an emerging group of players who gain vital experience from this going on to the World Cup qualifiers. They are captained by Leicester City’s Christian Fuchs and many of the squad ply their trade in the Bundesliga. David Alaba at Bayern Munich is a player that many other clubs wish they had in their team. They’ve found themselves in a favourable group and the knockout stages should be an easy target for them.

There is one song done for Austria, that was for the 1978 World Cup. You can find out all about it if you go to 45 Football. The song described is there as being very funny. But it is in German so if you speak German then yes, it might be. Instead I’ve delved into the Football and Music archives and from this post about Obscure Footballers, Singing. This is something sung by Austria’s highest goalscorer:

Toni Polster
TONI POLSTER
Anton “Toni” Polster is a former Austrian football player and most recently coach of Admira Wacker. He is the all-time leading goalscorer for Austria.

He’s also the lead singer of the Austrian band Achtung Liebe.

Found this one via Bundesliga Fanatic which has a few other songs I’ve already featured on F&M.
This was released sometime in the 1990’s as ‘Toni Polster and Die Fabulösen Thekenschlampen‘ (The Fabulous Bar Skanks) and he sings about his goalscoring prowess in Toni, lass es Polstern (Tony, let’s cushion).
There’s a more in depth look here.

» Toni Polster and Die Fabulösen Thekenschlampen – Toni, Lass Es Polstern

HUNGARY

The Mighty Magyars are a very distant and dim memory now. Hungary have been in the doldrums for a very, very long time. They’ve only qualified for the Euro finals twice before – That was in the early days of the European competition when there was only four teams. They lost both of their games in both of these finals. They qualified for these finals via a playoff and like Iceland above, here to fill in the spaces.

I mentioned in the Group B post (the Russia section) about the official song for the 2010 World Cup – K’nann – Wavin’ Flag – And there being loads of local versions of this song done.
Because I can’t find anything related to Hungary it has to be the Hungarian version of Wavin’ Flag:

An additional note: You must visit this wikispace to read everything about the Mighty Magyars.
Lots of words, music and photographs. Most excellent.

And with that the Song For Euros series of posts ends.

Categories: Music Tags: , , , ,

2 Replies to “A Song For Euros – Group F”

  2. An old workmate’s band “The Workhouse” did a track called Goodbye Gudni in honour of Mr Bergsson’s time at Bolton, but it’s not one of their best and is a very tenuous link 🙂
    They also did instrumentals called Big Sam, Ricketts and Stoichkov if you’re ever struggling for footie related music.

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.