8 German soccer anthems

In 1973, Germany's national soccer team recorded its first song, "Soccer is our life," for the World Cup held in West Germany a year later. Pictured above are Bernd Franke, Jupp Heynckes, Gerd Müller, Jupp Kapellmann, Uli Hoeness, Franz Beckenbauer and Sepp Maier. At the time of the recording, they didn't know yet that it would become the soundtrack of the country's first victory in 20 years.

In 1978, the German team recorded another song, this time accompanied by pop star Udo Jürgens. Their anthem for the World Cup in Argentina became a hit in Germany once again. On the soccer field, however, things didn't turn out well. The Germans were beaten in the preliminary round. Austria dubbed its victory "the miracle of Cordoba," while the Germans remember the match as the "shame of Cordoba."

During the World Cup in Mexico in 1986, the German team was accompanied by schlager star Peter Alexander. Once again, Germany reached the finals only to loose, this time, against Argentina. The spirit of Argentinian captain Diego Maradona was apparently stronger than the song. During the quarter finals, Maradona had already released his "divine powers" against the British team.

The song to the "Sommermärchen" (Summer fairy tale), or the 2006 World Cup in Germany, wasn't an official anthem, but rather an incidental hit. Center forward Gerald Asamoah was in charge of the music. And for each game, he played Xavier Naidoo's ballad. That worked out well – until the semi finals against Italy. Even though the Germans lost, they were seen as the "world champion of hearts."

The song composed by Andreas Bourani only became a World Cup hymn after being played so often by public TV broadcaster ARD that the lyrics, "Ein Hoch auf uns, auf dieses Leben" ("Cheers on us, on this life"), were stuck in every German's head. There was good reason to cheer on July 13, 2014: Germany won the tournament, defeating Argentina 1-0.

Melanie Müller was once a porno star and a contestant on the German version of The Bachelor and has become a cherished guest at wild parties in Mallorca. And that's how, at the 2014 World Cup, the TV personality was chosen for the song whose title translates as "There you go — Germany scores a goal." She created a fantastic mood, but certainly not a memorable anthem.

Schlager composer Ralph Siegel (at the bottom, fourth from right) recently revived an old project. His old successful band Dschinghis Khan recorded the 1979 hit "Moskau" anew, and in several languages — German, English, Spanish and Russian in order to reach the entire world during the 2018 World Cup in Russia.

Hip hop band Die Fantastischen Vier and singer Clueso have already landed a hit with "Zusammen" (Together). Once again pushed by football broadcaster ARD, the song quickly became an earworm. After Germany's victory against Sweden in the preliminary round, a wordplay was added to it. Honoring soccer star Toni Kroos, the original "zusammen groß" (Big together) was turned into "zusammen Kroos."