Footballers who sing national anthem with passion more likely to win matches, study finds

'You do not just have to sing like you mean it, you actually have to mean it'

Researchers say teams that sing with real fervour and put their arms around one another, such as Wales at Euro 2016, are more likely to do well (Getty)

Footballers who sing their pre-match national anthem with greater passion are more likely to win their games, according to new research.

Teams who collectively sang with more gusto went on to concede fewer goals, although they did not necessarily score more goals the academics found.

The new study suggests that looking closely at how fervent players’ singing is can give strong clues to the outcome of a match.

Researchers at the University of Staffordshire examined 51 games at the Uefa Euro 2016 and the players involved, looking at both verbal and non-verbal clues of passion before kick-off.

They studied whether players sang at all and, if so, to what intensity. They also examined players’ facial expressions and body language, for example how closely team members stood together and whether they put their arms around one another.

“We found that the level of passion displayed by players predicted their team’s success or failure in the subsequent match,” said lead researcher Matthew Slater.

“Results showed that teams that sang national anthems with greater passion went on to concede fewer goals.”

The research, published in the European Journal of Sport Science, also found that the impact of passion on the likelihood of winning a game depended on the stage of the competition: greater passion was linked with a greater likelihood of victory in the knockout stage - but not the group stage.

Switzerland and Spain both sang with low levels of passion, and neither made it through to the quarter-finals. In contrast, Wales, which made it to the semi-finals, and Italy, which made it to the quarter finals both sang with great passion. The winners, Portugal, also scored highly on pre-match intensity.

“Passionate renditions may be a catalyst for ‘us, and detrimental to ‘them’ – intimidating the opposition. New Zealand rugby players, who perform a posture dance known as ‘haka’ before games, may benefit from a similar effect,” said Mr Slater.

At the last World Cup, in Brazil in 2014, it was widely reported that Roy Hodgson, the then England manager, ordered his team to sing the national anthem.

But for this year’s World Cup, Mr Slater warned that instructing players to display more passion during national anthems may not be the best strategy.

“It is what passionate renditions represent that is crucial – the strength of connection with and enthusiasm for the group,” he said.

“If players are genuinely passionate because they identify strongly with their nation and its team, it is likely to increase collective effort and performance – but if players only show passion because they have been instructed to do so then this is unlikely to be a recipe for success.

“You do not just have to sing like you mean it, you actually have to mean it.”