In a move away from the usual pre-tournament fare, Wales’ official Euro 2016 song will be recorded by the Manic Street Preachers.
Not a mish-mash of comedians and ex-footballers, as you often get in these situations, they’ve got an actual real-life band with a connection to the country involved.
Welsh FA announce Manic Street Preachers have recorded official Euro 2016 song "Together Stronger (C’mon Wales)". pic.twitter.com/jrfl5aEp9x
— Richard Conway (@richard_conway) March 22, 2016
The response from Welsh fans has been broadly positive, with the announcement only adding to the excitement around what, for many supporters, will be the first chance to watch their home country in their lifetime.
https://twitter.com/PhilJohn4/status/712255093622640642
@Manics Great news, congrats! Can't wait to hear it.
— Sarina Schack (@annmyman33) March 22, 2016
So Wales have got the best player at Euro 2016 in @GarethBale11 and an official song from the @Manics. When we qualify, we do it right.
— Dan Roberts (@danroberts11) March 22, 2016
But it got us thinking. If Wales get the Manics, who would be perfect for the other qualifying nations?
Not all 23 of them, as we don’t have all day (and we’re no experts on Slovakian pop music), but just a selection.
We’ll warn you now – there will be puns.
Romania – O-Zone
With Romania taking on hosts France in the opening game, we need some big-hitters from the music world to step up to the plate.
And they don’t come much bigger than the band who inspired internet sensations aplenty when their masterpiece ‘Dragostea Din Tei’ first hit the airwaves in 2003.
Sure, O-Zone are technically Moldovan, but if Diego Costa can play for Spain…
Iceland – Sigur Ros
Instead of the usual dull, out-of-tune renditions of ‘Seven Nation Army’ which seem commonplace at any European sporting event, imagine a crowd united in melody, with the beautiful sounds of Iceland’s most famous export filtering throughout France’s stadia. It would be as harmonious as it is mystifying.
Sweden – Zlatan Ibrahimovic doing a spoken-word performance
Because Zlatan does what he wants.
Austria – DJ Otzi
Everyone’s going to be singing some variation of ‘Hey Baby’ anyway, so why not the man himself, seeing as his compatriots have actually made it to a major tournament and stand a chance of reaching the knock-out phases.
As a bonus, it doubles up as something for fans of other countries to sing when they accidentally wind up at Austria games after a ticketing snafu.
Sweden – The Hives
You know what we said about those puns? Hate to say we told you so.
England – Olly Murs
It’s always Olly Murs, isn’t it?
Scotland – The Proclaimers
From 500 miles away, or whatever the distance is from France to Scotland
