The UEFA Champions League Anthem, officially titled simply as "Champions League", was written by English composer Tony Britten

Tony Britten

Tony Britten is an English composer, best known for writing the music for the UEFA Champions League Anthem.-Career:Britten is a graduate of the Royal College of Music. He spent the first few years of his career in theatre as a musical director, including working for Cameron Mackintosh as music...

. In 1992, UEFA

UEFA

The Union of European Football Associations , almost always referred to by its acronym UEFA is the administrative and controlling body for European association football, futsal and beach soccer....

 commissioned Britten to arrange an anthem for the UEFA Champions League

UEFA Champions League

The UEFA Champions League, known simply the Champions League and originally known as the European Champion Clubs' Cup or European Cup, is an annual international club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations since 1955 for the top football clubs in Europe. It...

 which commenced in August 1992, and he adapted George Frideric Handel

George Frideric Handel

George Frideric Handel was a German-British Baroque composer, famous for his operas, oratorios, anthems and organ concertos. Handel was born in 1685, in a family indifferent to music...

's "Zadok the Priest

Zadok the Priest

Zadok the Priest is a coronation anthem composed by George Frideric Handel using texts from the King James Bible. It is one of the four Coronation Anthems that Handel composed for the coronation of George II of Great Britain in 1727,The other Coronation Anthems Handel composed are: The King Shall...

" from the Coronation Anthems

Coronation Anthems

The Coronation Anthems are four anthems composed by George Frideric Handel using texts from the King James Bible, to be played at the coronation of the British monarch. They are Zadok the Priest , My Heart Is Inditing , The King Shall Rejoice and Let Thy Hand Be Strengthened...

, and the piece was performed by London's Royal Philharmonic Orchestra

Royal Philharmonic Orchestra

The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra is a British orchestra based in London. It tours widely, and is sometimes referred to as "Britain's national orchestra"...

 and sung by the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields

Academy of St. Martin in the Fields

The Academy of St Martin in the Fields is an English chamber orchestra, based in London.Sir Neville Marriner founded the ensemble as The Academy of St.-Martin-in-the-Fields in London as a small, conductorless string group. The ensemble's name comes from Trafalgar Square's St Martin-in-the-Fields...

. The chorus is in the three official language

Language

Language may refer either to the specifically human capacity for acquiring and using complex systems of communication, or to a specific instance of such a system of complex communication...

s used by UEFA: English

English language

English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

, German

German language

German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....

, and French

French language

French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...

. The anthem's chorus

Refrain

A refrain is the line or lines that are repeated in music or in verse; the "chorus" of a song...

 is played before each UEFA Champions League

UEFA Champions League

The UEFA Champions League, known simply the Champions League and originally known as the European Champion Clubs' Cup or European Cup, is an annual international club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations since 1955 for the top football clubs in Europe. It...

 game, as well as at the beginning and end of television broadcasts of the matches. The complete anthem is about three minutes long, and has two short verses and the chorus. The anthem has never been released commercially in its original version. However, 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].

See also

• UEFA Champions League
  UEFA Champions League
  The UEFA Champions League, known simply the Champions League and originally known as the European Champion Clubs' Cup or European Cup, is an annual international club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations since 1955 for the top football clubs in Europe. It...
  
  
• UEFA Europa League Anthem
• European anthem
• National anthem
  National anthem
  A national anthem is a generally patriotic musical composition that evokes and eulogizes the history, traditions and struggles of its people, recognized either by a nation's government as the official national song, or by convention through use by the people.- History :Anthems rose to prominence...
  
  

External links

• UEFA Champions League antehm on UEFA
  UEFA
  The Union of European Football Associations , almost always referred to by its acronym UEFA is the administrative and controlling body for European association football, futsal and beach soccer....
  
  home page, including lyrics.