Sing when you’re winning: The anthem inspiring England’s Lionesses

Miffed by a lack of official song to cheer England’s Women’s football team after their stunning win at last summer’s Euros, a crack group of musicians set to work, as Sports Team drummer Alex Greenwood reveals...

Women’s football will not go back into its box (Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)

Standing in Boxpark Wembley in August last year, celebrating the Lionesses’ Euro victory, I couldn’t help but notice the irony of chanting “30 years of hurt”. Since then, despite the meteoric rise of the women’s game and its brilliant culture of dads, WAGS, lashes and Tooney’s nan, we still lack football anthems for the Lionesses.

It was this musical oversight, alongside Gabby Logan’s closing match commentary at last year’s final, that rang in the ears of musician Olivia Dean and producer Glenn Roberts, and made them pen the first notes of a song they’ve written for the current World Cup, where England are on a great run again after today’s win against Denmark. It’s titled “Call me a Lioness".

It’s the first anthem written explicitly for the England women’s team. In the final moments of the Euros tournament, Logan had rallied, "The Lionesses have brought football home. Now it’s down to the rest of us to make sure it stays here. You think it’s all over? It’s only just begun.”