The most beautiful football song in the world. No, it's not YNWA.

Neither is World in Motion. Nor Three Lions.

Football songs are tricky.

They either turn into a cultural moment. Or they end up a tacky, embarrassing mess. There doesn’t seem to be anything in between.

There are different kinds of football songs, of course.

Songs written specifically for football: club anthems, world cup anthems, general love songs to the sport.

And songs appropriated by the terraces and stadium DJs, sometimes in the original version, sometimes with corny custom lyrics.

For the sake of argument we’ll consider football songs as a whole.

If you asked 100 football fans what the best football song in the world is, you’d probably get 50 different replies.

You’ll never walk alone will be one of them, obviously. We are the champions still has its fans. Three Lions. Seven Nation Army. Vindaloo. Blue Moon. Freed from desire. Song 2. Even Sweet Caroline, ffs.

But it’s none of them.

This piece was inspired by an exchange I had on Blue Sky. Someone championed World in Motion by New Order as best football song ever. I couldn’t let that fly.

Because the truly best, most beautiful football song in the world is one barely ever mentioned in these lists.

But objectively speaking, and by objectively I mean: In my very strong opinion, this song is the best. Not because it’s the foundation of terrace chants. Not because it’s a goosebumps-inducing stadium anthem.

But because it encapsulates everything that makes football great in its sad melody and apt lyrics.

Hope.

Dreams.

Tragedy.

Heartbreak.

The keen observer will already have realised that I am speaking, of course, of Del Amitri’s Don’t Come Home Too Soon.

(Link to the song on Youtube)

Del Amitri recorded the song for the Scottish national team and the World Cup 1998 (which was a great year for football and World Cup songs).

Here are the lyrics:

So long, go on and do your best
Let all France have whiskey on its breath
The world may not be shaking yet
But you might prove them wrong
Even long shots make it
(Even long shots make it)

So go then, out into history
And show them how easy it can be
You might not believe it yet
But pretty soon, you'll see
Even long shots make it

Just don't come home too soon
Just don't come home too soon

And I don't care what people say, we can laugh it all away
But if I have a dream at all, it's best for once
You won't be on that stupid plane
And the world may not be shaking yet
But you might prove them wrong
Even long shots make it

Just don't come home too soon
Just don't come home too soon

(I don't care what people say)

Now, maybe it’s because I’ve always been a fan of an underdog club, but these lyrics just sum up the football fan experience:

Hoping for the best, expecting the worst, and not-bottling-the-tournament-too-soon as key performance indicator of success.

The self-deprecating humour of the song paired with the sincerity of neverending, soul-crushing hope over a beautiful little melody is what does it for me.

Brilliant.

Now, I know many Scottish fans won’t agree.

But I have loved this song ever since I heard back in 1998 and recorded it to my cassette tape. Relatable lyrics and a great melody I can see myself singing along to in a crowded pub just makes this my favourite football song of all time.

As they say on LinkedIn:

Agree?