World Cup stories: From Waka Waka to Ricky Martin, ranking the official World Cup songs

World Cups are defined by the country that they take place in, with each tournament having a different flavour thanks to the culture, community and climate of the host nation. 

The music for the finals can also make a huge difference. Often a soundtrack for the summer, a good official song lives long in the memory, while others have been completely forgotten. 

So, with 56 days to go until the 2026 tournament, DAZN News looks back at rates each official song from 1990 onwards. 

• Read next I 57 days - Scotland legend wary of squad's weakness ahead of tournament return

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2022 - Hayya Hayya (Better Together)

We'll starting with the offering as FIFA's official song from four years ago in Qatar. Struggling to remember it? Yes, us too.

This was the first single (yes, there was more than one) off the official soundtrack to the tournament, performed by Trinidad Cardona, Nigerian singer Davido, and Qatari singer AISHA. 

It's a fine little pop ditty, but completely forgettable. There were four more songs released from the album, and it's no surprise they got lost amid the World Cup drama.

Especially in December, when we're all singing Christmas songs anyway. 

2018 - Live it Up 

Another song that seemed to have escaped most people's minds, and any real chart placings - unless you count its top spot in Panama and Poland. 

Live It Up was a collaboration between Nicky Jam, Will Smith, and Era Istrefi, and there's nothing truly offensive about it, but it's also something you feel like you've heard a million times before. 

It also feels like it's a decade or so late to get Will Smith involved with a football song. He's better off sticking to his Getting Jiggy With it wheelhouse.

Not terrible, but not really that inspiring either. 

2002 - Boom 

If you like Anastacia, then this probably feels a bit too low for the Canadian singer, but her distinctive voice and style aren't to everyone's tastes. 

An archetypal song that could have been plucked anywhere from her back catalogue, it was, for some reason, chosen as the sound to fuel a World Cup in the Far East. 

There is very little of the Asian flavour factored into this one, but her voice does instantly take you back to the noughties.

Whether that's what you want from a football song, we're not sure. 

2006 - Time of Our Lives 

A duet that had been completely erased from our memory, as Germany 2006 went down the more emotional route for their official song. 

They put together a front pairing of crooners ll Divo and American R&B royalty Toni Braxton for Time of Our Lives, without a nod to the home country in sight. 

The tone of the song makes it ideal for a classic World Cup montage with the video portraying some memorable moments from the tournament's history, and it's sung beautifully by both parties. 

Yet, the sight of the boys singing in an empty football stadium doesn't really get the blood going much. 

1990 - To Be Number One 

Hands up who thought Nessum Dorma was the song of Italia '90? Us too, but in reality, it was used for the BBC's coverage of the tournament and then taken on as the song most synonymous with that World Cup. 

The actual official song was a Eurovision-looking Italian pop song called Un'estate italiana, and this soft rock jam is covered in 1990s glory. 

Dim lighting, a rocky but emotional tone and even a sax interlude, you couldn't ask much more from a song to sum up the era. 

Yet, it was just nowhere near as good as Pavarotti's classic. 

1998 - La Copa de la Vida (The Cup of Life)

It felt like the 1998 tournament could have had its own album that summer, with at least a trio of them about England, as well as Dario G and others getting in on the act. 

But the honour of the official song was given to the Livin' La Vida Loca-ring Ricky Martin - very much a part of the pop zeitgeist of the time. 

A Latino singer with his swinging hips would have been ideal for a finals in Spain, but it wasn't; it was hosted by France, making him an odd choice. 

Yet, you can't help but smile and shake your booty along with this like it's 1998 all over again. 

2014 - We Are One (Ole Ola) 

Ah, FIFA got clever here, and during a time when Pitbull seemed to be over everything, they roped him in along with Jennifer Lopez and Brazilian Claudia Leitte for a Samba-inspired number. 

And you get what you want with this. Pitbull's bars get you going and pumped, while Lopez adds her credible and distinctive voice to a song that even charted in the top 30 in the UK. 

I mean, who can't get down to a Samba beat? It gets you on your feet and makes you think of the host country, which wins points all round for us. 

Try not to dance to this, go on... 

2010 - Waka Waka (This Time for Africa) 

Keeping up with the theme of making the tune connect to the host nation, here's Shakira and perhaps one of the most memorable songs in official World Cup song history (if that's a thing). 

Teaming up with homegrown band Freshlyground, the Colombian got full into the African spirit for this uber-catchy pop song, which hit number one throughout Europe and top 20 in the UK. 

The video also has the ideal combination of the perfect culture-inspired dance routine and cameos from a bunch of uncomfortable-looking footballers - including Shakira's squeeze at the time, Gerard Pique. 

Yes, the chorus got mind-numbingly annoying by the end, but c'mon, it's still a tune. 

1994 - Gloryland 

We'll caveat this by saying what a guility please this song is for said writer, and not only does it scream pure Americana, it's also very much of its 1990s era. 

A song with more cheese than a Welsh rarebit, it's American rock at its finest, sung in perfect sync with iconic footballing moments of the past. 

Also chosen as the lead for ITV's title song for their coverage, the gospel opening makes the hairs on the back of your neck tingle before Daryl Hall takes over and leads us through this epic. 

With 2026 returning to these American roots, it's almost an impossible task to match this tune. 

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