A good anthem here means a stirring, passionate song that players and fans engage with is not played too long, and makes you want to stand up and yell. Tune in before every World Cup kickoff and you sit through 54 minutes and 39 seconds of national anthems. Some are average ditties made great by how heartily the team's fans sing them, such as the United States and Scotland. Others offer little more than a pre-match break. Italy would have the World Cup of national anthems if they had qualified. Western and northern European anthems undoubtedly mean a lot to their people.
- 48. England. Stirring rating: 1/10. Length: 42 seconds. Key phrase: "God save our gracious king, long live our noble king." The music drones on unforgivingly and the lyrics focus on one old bloke, unlike every other anthem on the list. Banal, aimless music and stuffy, ceremonial nonsense for those who cannot stand it. A campaign for a new English anthem with relevance to most of the country's population has been suggested. Social posts from June 17, 2026 showed a rousing rendition before England's match.
- 47. Jordan. Stirring rating: 2/10. Length: 33 seconds, the second-shortest at the tournament. Key phrase: "A revolution gives us our motivation." Short and repetitive, with players singing quite badly out of tune amid a background of repetitive notes. The Jordan anthem was played at the World Cup for the first time on June 17, 2026.
- 46. Spain. Stirring rating: 2/10. Length: 50 seconds. Key phrase: "Doooo do do dooooo do." Spain dropped the words in 1978, three years after Francisco Franco's death. Old lyrics by Jose Maria Peman from 1928 had been adopted by Franco's nationalists after the Spanish Civil War in the 1930s. Like Bosnia and Herzegovina, Spain still has no agreed official lyrics. A nice tune but not exactly galvanizing.
- 45. Germany. Stirring rating: 3/10. Length: one minute, four seconds. Key phrase: "Unity and justice and freedom for the German fatherland." Pleasant but melancholic, unlikely to fire up a reducer in the opening 30 seconds. Germany's anthem was played for the first time at the 2026 World Cup on June 14, 2026.
- 44. New Zealand. Stirring rating: 3/10. Length: 1 minute 50 seconds, the longest at the tournament. Key phrase: "Hear our voices, we entreat, God defend our free land." God Defend New Zealand is the country's second anthem and more commonly used than God Save the King. Few Kiwis made the long trek to Los Angeles, producing one of the quietest renditions.
- 43. Austria. Stirring rating: 3/10. Length: 1 minute 12 seconds. Key phrase: "Hotly contested, fiercely disputed, you lie at the heart of the continent like a strong heart." Slow and cumbersome, even Marko Arnautovic looked bored before the Jordan game. Austria's anthem was played for the first time at the 2026 World Cup on June 17, 2026.
- 42. Qatar. Stirring rating: 3/10. Length: 1 minute 39 seconds. Key phrase: "Qatar is the land of the foremost men, who protect us in time of distress." As-Salam al-Amiri is forgettable for its length. Julen Lopetegui did not learn the words of his adopted country, unlike Graham Potter with Sweden and Jesse Marsch with Canada.
- 41. Netherlands. Stirring rating: 3/10. Length: 48 seconds. Key phrase: "Prince of Orange am I, free and fearless." One of the world's oldest anthems, with music dating to the 16th century. Falls into the same dull bracket as England and Germany despite William of Orange fighting for independence. The Dutch anthem played before Netherlands' first 2026 World Cup match on June 14, 2026.
- 40. Croatia. Stirring rating: 3/10. Length: 1 minute 5 seconds. Key phrase: "Fatherland of old glory, may you be forever blissful." Flat, hummed by many Croatian players. Nice violins but little gumption.
- 39. Ghana. Stirring rating: 4/10. Length: 48 seconds. Key phrase: "God bless our motherland Ghana and make our nation great and strong." Sounds like a jazzed-up African version of the German anthem. Either the Ghana players do not know the words or do not like singing them.
- 38. Belgium. Stirring rating: 4/10. Length: 55 seconds. Key phrase: "Noble Belgium, o dear mother to you our hearts, to you our arms." Jolly but lacking unbridled passion for a song from the 1830 Belgian Revolution. Kevin De Bruyne and Jeremy Doku did not sing a word.
Volume UP ๐๐ด๓ ง๓ ข๓ ฅ๓ ฎ๓ ง๓ ฟ A rousing rendition of the national anthem for @England!
The Jordan national anthem is played at the World Cup for the first time ๐ฏ๐ด
Brazil's anthem is considered a musical tour de force, while France's remains a perennial World Cup favourite. England's God Save the King lands dead last at No. 48 with the lowest stirring rating on the board.
