As England head into the quarter finals following their win against Senegal in the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, we take a look at how “It’s Coming Home” has become not only a theme tune for football generations, but also a slogan known and loved by many.
Where does the term “It’s Coming Home” come from?
According to Fifa, England invented the game of football in 1863. It’s Coming Home is a phrase that was first used in the 1990s by British football fans, due to England being seen as the home of football, and later became a common chant. It was popularised when comedians David Baddiel and Frank Skinner used it as the chorus in their song Three Lions, which was released in 1996 to coincide with Euro 96.
If you don’t know the song, the chorus is just a melodic repeat of “It’s coming home, it’s coming home, it’s coming home, it’s coming… football’s coming home”.
The term became widely used to celebrate that a major football competition was going to be played on English soil, but became part of an anthem about England’s chances in the world cup. The song reached number one in the UK Singles Chart on 5 July 1996, and then went on to successfully top the charts 3 more times during popular football events that England were taking part in. The England badge is embellished with three lions, hence the actual name of the song ‘Three Lions’. The song is not actually called ‘It’s Coming Home’, contrary to popular belief.
In 2018 the infamous soundtrack made a huge resurgence sparked by England’s surprising success in the Russian hosted world cup and further fueled by sometimes sarcastic viral meme content on social media.
How “It’s Coming Home” has taken on a new meaning in recent years
England’s chances of winning their first major football tournament since 1966 have never been better, making it to the final of the 2020 Euros (in 2021) only to lose on penalties against Italy. As they enter into the quarter-finals in Qatar, the pressure is on for Gareth Southgate’s England squad to pull off a win against reigning world champions, France.
The slogan, however, transcends any particular tournament, with many using it to celebrate the win by England’s lionesses in Euro 2022, with many celebrating that the ladies brought it home for the country.
Most recently, as the World Cup tournament is underway, we’ve seen a powerful campaign by Women’s Aid, using the term “He’s Coming Home” to highlight that domestic abuse cases after a football match have risen by 38%.
Is it coming home for England in the 2022 World Cup?
Going into the knockout stages, England were the highest performing team during the group stages based on scoring the most points and having the best goal difference.
As we’ve got an £80 office sweepstake riding on this, we thought we’d ask the office if they think it’s coming home for England.
Claire: I couldn’t care less
Lucy: I highly doubt it, although I’m hopeful 
Beth: YES!!!!!!
Ben: Probably not this time
Colleen 
: No
Jamie-lee: No
Darren 
: Definitely not
Nichola: Yes, come on Rashy!!! (Marcus Rashford will score the winning goal lmao)
Kaitlyn: France for the win!
Jess: I’m going to say no
El: MAYBE
Catherine: Maybe 
Leave a comment on our Instagram post and let us know whether you think it’s coming home for England this World Cup.
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