England Fans celebrate after winning the UEFA EURO 2024 semi-final match between Netherlands and England. Photo / Getty Images
England Fans celebrate after winning the UEFA EURO 2024 semi-final match between Netherlands and England. Photo / Getty Images
For the uninitiated who will hear the phrase ‘Football’s coming home’ a lot before Monday’s Euro 2024 final between England and Spain, here’s a breakdown.
What is ‘Football’s coming home’?
It’s from a William Shakespeare sonnet titled England:
Oh that makes sense...wait, did you say Shakespeare? Did you just make that up?
Yes, I did. It actually originates from a song called Three Lions which was released by The Lightning Seeds, David Baddiel and Frank Skinner ahead of the 1996 European Championships, which were held in England.
The song begins with the line ‘It’s coming home, it’s coming home, it’s coming, football’s coming home’. The phrase is then repeated a further 23 times during the song.
The song went number one on the British charts and returned to the top spot two years later during the 1998 World Cup. It crops up again every time England make a run at a tournament, which under current manager Gareth Southgate has become a welcoming regularity, despite not bringing a trophy.
Watch the video and note the appearance of Sir Geoff Hurst who grabs a pint in the pub. He scored a hat-trick in the 1966 World Cup final.
Here's Baddiel and Skinner explaining to the BBC how the song came about.
🎶 It's coming home 🎶
David Baddiel and Frank Skinner's song is sweeping the nation (again!)
No. They lost on penalties to Germany. Southgate missed from the spot with the shootout down to sudden death. But the ‘Football’s coming home’ chant grew in popularity during the event and has been used at every World Cup and European Championship since (when they qualify).
It was again more accurately and not at all used ironically for the 2021 tournament. 11 different cities were used as hosts for Euro 2020 but London’s Wembley Stadium was the venue for the final after also hosting the two semifinals.
However, England lost in the final to Italy in a shoot-out. So they did not bring football home.
The women’s team, the Lionesses, did lift the European trophy in 2022 with an extra-time win over Germany, also at Wembley.
England are up against a very strong Spanish side who have won every game at the tournament. Spain (eighth in the world) are ranked below England (fifth) but had impressive knockout wins over hosts Germany and World Cup finalists France on their way to the final.
The TAB have listed Spain as the favourites paying $1.67 compared to England at $2.20.
