Each year the UEFA (Union of European Football Associations) Champions League holds its competition to determine the winner of Europe’s top-division football (a.k.a soccer) clubs.
As I write this, the year’s final match concluded with Paris Saint-Germain defeating Arsenal in the penalty shoot-out.
The music that accompanies every game, and inspires billions of fans, has become one of the most recognizable sports anthems. Composed by Tony Britten in 1992, it is simply titled “Champions League” and has become iconic in the sport’s culture.
Adapted from George Frederic Handel’s coronation anthem, Zadok the Priest, Britten’s sweeping arrangement was performed and recorded by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the Academy of Saint Martin in the Fields, and Tenebrae choir.
Britten said: “UEFA wanted this competition to be about the best of football rather than the worst and said they must have an anthem. The World Cup in Italy had just had the three tenors so classical music was all the rage.”
In my simplified piano cover of this beautiful anthem, the main theme is supported by lush, ascending chords and marching octaves. Arranged in the key of D major, and performed with an energetic tempo, the piece aims to capture the grandeur reminiscent of monarch coronations, and the world’s most celebrated sport, football (or soccer).
Sheet music ► https://www.mymusicsheet.com/marisasmusicstudio/192194