​England has three matches standing between it and its first World Cup title in six decades. If the Three Lions manage to triumph, Oasis frontman Liam Gallagher says he’s ready to join the squad on the pitch after the final in New Jersey to deliver a live rendition of one of the band’s biggest hits. This summer, England players and fans have embraced Wonderwall as the team’s anthem, singing it in unison after each victory. To keep that momentum going, they’ll have to get past Erling Haaland and Norway on Saturday night.
Liam, a lifelong Manchester City devotee, shares a node of allegiance with his brother Noel, the other half of Oasis, even as both show support for England. In a post on X, Liam teased, “If we get to the final we’ll be taking over.” Back home, Oasis’s popularity has surged as well, with streams more than doubling according to entertainment analytics platform Luminate. In the United Kingdom, the band’s catalog drew over two million streams in the past week, up from under one million per week in early June, while worldwide listenership climbed by about 40%. Luminate, like Sportico, is part of Penske Media Corporation. Wonderwall has also climbed back into the UK’s top 40 singles chart. After England’s historic win over Croatia, Spotify data showed a 50% surge in plays following the moment when fans spontaneously sang along in a Dallas Stadium. “It truly was a remarkable moment,” England forward Harry Kane told BBC News of the impromptu singalong in Texas, describing it as one of his favorite England-shirt moments in a major tournament.
By the time England defeated Mexico in Mexico City, the team found itself swaying and singing together, shoulder to shoulder. “Wonderwall belongs to the people,” Noel Gallagher recently told The Sun. During Euro 2020, English fans leaned more toward Neil Diamond’s Sweet Caroline as their summer anthem, but Oasis has surged to the forefront since the band announced a reunion tour in 2024, a development that fueled a fourfold increase in UK streams that week, according to Luminate.
England’s official playlist for the tournament featured a mix that included Sweet Caroline as the designated post-match track along with Three Lions by David Baddiel, Frank Skinner, and The Lightning Seeds, as reported by The Athletic. Yet stadium DJs have long understood that fans crave something more. FIFA’s stadium entertainment teams carefully curate playlists for each matchup in collaboration with the teams and participating nations. In the United States, fans formed a chorus around Take Me Home, Country Roads during the tournament, with the lyrics resonating especially after England’s win over Australia in Seattle. The enduring popularity of John Denver’s classic is a reminder of how a simple song can become a unifying match-day moment around the world.