Comedians David Baddiel and Frank Skinner first teamed up with The Lightning Seeds in 1996 to become the sound of Euro 96 with their track Three Lions.
Ever since then England fans have spent major tournaments hoping the iconic football’s coming home lyrics would finally come true.
The title of the famous song comes from the three lions that make up the England team’s emblem.
An updated version was released for the World Cup in 1998 and both topped the UK charts during the summers of football fever.
David Baddiel (left) who wrote the 1996 Britpop tribute to the England football team with Frank Skinner has become the soundtrack to England games (pictured on the video shoot for Three Lions)
The tune once again found a revival 20 years later at the 2018 World Cup where it became the first song in UK history to have four spells at No 1 with the same line-up.
England enjoyed their best World Cup performance for the best part of three decades, and as the belief among the public was generated that football was indeed coming home, Three Lions was downloaded and streamed and the song sold 80,000 copies.
After England lost 2-1 to Croatia in the semifinals Three Lions plummeted from 1 to 97 in the week – the fastest ever drop from the top in the history of the UK singles chart.
Since its release, Three Lions has been streamed more than 38million times and the iconic music video has amassed 41 million views on YouTube.
The comedians David (left) and Frank (rigtht) celebrated England’s victory over Germany in the Euro 2020 at Wembley Stadium
Earlier this year there was outrage amid reports the track was being dropped as the official World Cup song when the England team play in Qatar- amid fears it could be seen as arrogant by other countries.
It was claimed that FA chiefs were said to be reviewing other options which would see choruses of Baddiel and Skinner’s ‘Football’s Coming Home’ reminiscent of Euro ’96 abandoned for a ‘less offensive’ alternative.
England legend Paul Gascoigne, who was instrumental in the Three Lions’ march to the semi-finals at Euro ’96, railed against the ‘nonsense’ idea.
‘The FA have totally lost the plot… You can’t take that song off us, it would be like saying we can’t wave St George’s flags anymore,’ the 54-year-old told The Sun.
‘This woke nonsense has no place in football. It’s just a great song.’
TalkTV presenter Piers Morgan echoed Gazza’s sentiment last night and questioned how the song could be seen as offensive given its self-depricating nature.
‘This song is all about wallowing in 30 years of pain and hurt and not winning anything – how can anyone say it’s arrogant?’
However the FA later rubbished reports that was set to drop the iconic anthem.
A spokesman told MailOnline: ‘Contrary to reports, The FA still plays Three Lions at major Wembley matches and has never had any intention of doing otherwise.
‘The song belongs to the fans and is about the hope of following the England team.
‘It was requested by The FA to be played as one of our team songs at the 2018 World Cup and at the EUROs last summer, and this is our plan at tournaments going forwards.’
And the song found new meaning when the Lionesses won the Euros earlier this year.
After the women’s Lionesses team smashed a 2-1 win against Germany at Wembley Stadium which brought England their first Euro victory, Baddiel and Skinner decided to bring in their huge win to the iconic song.
The night before the final, Baddiel and the Lightning Seeds performed a Lionesses-themed version of the song at a Camden gig.
It featured lyrics ‘And now I see Ellen White standing tall, Russo ready to score, Stanway belting the ball, and Beth Mead screaming’.
Earlier this month, David revealed the Three Lions Christmas remake will pay tribute to the England Lionesses team.
News of the re-recording as a Christmas release, called ‘Three Lions On A Sleigh’, was released in September, but earlier this month David told Toby Tarrant on The Chris Moyles Show on Radio X that the Lionesses have had an impact.
When asking about getting into the Christmas music markets, Baddiel said: ‘You know we’ve done Three Lions Christmassy, do you know that?’
Chris said: ‘I imagine it’s Three Lions with more sleigh bells,’ but Baddiel responds: ‘It’s actually more than that.
‘That was the original idea, Ian Brody – definitely a genius – me and Chris were thinking, ‘well should we do a Christmas thing’ because it is December, the World Cup is in December.
‘But should we do it with sleigh bells, kids choirs and all that.
‘But me and Frank said, ‘Let’s re-write it, with some comedy Christmassy lyrics.
‘And also we thought we’d write about the Lionesses winning.
‘And that’s what we’ve done, we’ve filmed the video the other day.
‘What we’d done is – I don’t want to give too much away – but the first video we shot in 1996.
‘It’s a version of that one, just much, much older.’
With England gearing up to play in the Middle Eastern country of Qatar, Skinner is dusting off the old classic with long-time collaborator, Ian Broudie of the Lightning Seeds.
Skinner said that he recorded the new track at Broudie’s home studio, and it kicks off with a tribute to the England woman’s team after their victory which was the first time since the 1966 FIFA World Cup that England had won a major football tournament.
Football fans blasted Frank and David’s decision to release a new version of Three Lions claiming ‘it’s going to be a classic’ despite also admitting it is ‘tacky’ and ‘demeaning’.
Mr Baddiel admitted when the song launched on BBC1 last night: ‘Some might say that should be the end of it. Stop singing it. But we decided to give it one more go on the basis that the blokes haven’t brought it home’.
David (pictured right with Frank Skinner) says the Three Lions Christmas remake will pay tribute to the England Lionesses team for their stellar Euros win this summer
The night before the Euro 2020 final, Baddiel, Skinner and the Lightning Seeds performed a Lionesses-themed version of the song at a Camden gig (pictured)
His comedy partner Frank added: ‘We could not resist the fact that the World Cup was at Christmas.
‘People have said in the past that football songs are a little bit tacky. And in maths two negatives make a positive so we think there is so much tacky in this it’s going to be a classic’.
But football fans are questioning the decision to release it again – with some suggesting it is so toe-curling and saccharin-sweet that it makes them want to vomit. Many suggested it was just Skinner and Baddiel cashing in by ‘flogging Three Lions song to death’.
One wag tweeted: ‘A new version of Three Lions? Could this world cup get any worse?’ with one disgruntled fellow England supporter adding: Three Lions in the bin more like’. Another critic said: ‘Safe to say if England are as bad on the pitch as the new Three Lions song then Wales and USA will be safely into the Knockouts’.
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