Ahead of Euro 2024 kicking off next week, we’re taking a look at the footballers who (tried to) represent their country in a very different way. Oftentimes in the Eurovision fandom it would seem that enjoyment of football and the Eurovision song contest are mutually exclusive, maybe the macho of the sport isn’t the best match for the glitz and glamour of the Eurovision stage.
However the history between the contest and the sport go back over 50 years, with a long tradition of footballers representing, or attempting to represent, their nation on the famous Eurovision stage, here are just some of the ballers who swapped sport for song.
Julio Iglesias (Spain 1970)
Iglesias is a certified Spanish Icon, and has sold over 150,000,000 records worldwide in over 14 languages, and has performed for over 60,000,000 people in five continents.
His football career wasn’t quite as illustrious however, a former goalkeeper (you’ll see a weirdly high amount of those here), his career between the sticks amounted only to a 4 year spell with Plus Ultra, now called Real Madrid Castilla, never breaking into the senior team. He did however share a dressing room with the likes of Ramón Grosso and Manuel Velázquez.
Iglesias represented his native Spain in the 1970 contest, finishing a joint 4th on 8 points with his entry “Gwendolyne”, losing out to Ireland’s Dana. That however was just the start of his illustrious career, and he has gone on to release 80 (Yes, Eighty.) albums, several of which charted globally.
His son, Enrique, followed his footsteps into the music industry and has joined him on the list of the top selling Latin artists of all time.
Joe Cutajar (Helen & Joseph – Malta 1972)
Prior to representing the island nation of Malta in 1972 alongside Helen Micallef with L-imħabba, Joe Cutajar spent the 1960s playing top flight football in the country, playing for Valletta and St. George’s in the country’s top flight, as well as playing for Ħamrun Spartans as a youth. He also had a decade spanning career as a cabaret artist, still singing up until a few months before he sadly died in March of this year.
50 years on from their performance at 1972, where they came in last place, Joe & Helen re-united during MESC 2022 for a performance of their song.
Fabrizio Faniello (Malta 2001, 2006)
We stay in Malta for two time Eurovision representative Fabrizio Faniello. Three years before he took to the Danish national football stadium Parken with the song “Another Summer Night” in Eurovision 2001, he was playing at Malta’s national stadium as part of the Sliema Wanderers youth team in the Cassar Cup final.
In fact Faniello was already a part of the Eurovision universe when he played in that game, having finished second in the Maltese national selection in 1998 three months earlier with “More than just a game” (Which isn’t about football, I went and checked.)
Fabrizio also represented Malta in 2006 with “I do” – where he picked up just 1 point, which I suppose is better than the 0 you get for losing a match.
Nicky Byrne (Ireland 2016)
Westlife star Nicky Byrne had a glittering youth football career, starting out at the prolific Home Farm youth side, being capped at several age groups for the Irish national team, as well as being part of the Leeds United youth team that won the 1997 FA Youth Cup.
He is the first entrant here to have played at a senior level, albeit whilst still as a teenager, he appeared in the League of Ireland’s second tier for Cobh Ramblers and then St. Francis, before curtailing his football career to join Westlife.
Byrne represented Ireland at Eurovision 2016 with the song “Sunlight” – and fitting for an Irish entrant prior to this year, failed to qualify for the final. Westlife have since reunited and have released two albums.
Jérémie Makiese (Belgium 2022)
Jérémie Makiese is yet another goalkeeper with Eurovision experience. Whilst best known to us for serving soulful vocals in Turin for Belgium in 2022 with “Miss You”, he was also on the payroll at Belgian Pro League B side side Royal Excelsior Virton at the time, after coming through the youth ranks of R.W.D. Molenbeek.
Having never broken into the first team at Virton, he joined Flemish Brabant Second Provincial (Tier 7) side ERC Hoeilaart at the start of the 2023/24 season, and has made 5 appearances for the club to date. His brother Henoc is also on the roster at the club, having played 10 times for the club in the last season.
Marcus & Martinus (Sweden 2024)
Everyone’s favourite Norwegian and wannabe Swedish twins Marcus & Martinus aren’t only teammates on the stage, but also on the football pitch, with the duo both playing for Mosjøen IL in Avdeling 4 of Norway’s 3. divisjon, (Which because football, is the fourth tier). The two featured against current Norwegian champions FK Bodø/Glimt in the first round of last year’s Norwegian Cup, where they lost 3-0.
Just five days after the Eurovision Grand Final in Malmö this year, both twins came off the bench to feature for their first game of the 2024 season as their side were hit by a late equaliser by FK Rana.
Prior to their Eurovision 2024 participation, M&M utilised the pre-party circuit to visit as many football stadiums as possible, including Ajax’s Johan Cruijff Arena and Manchester United’s Old Trafford.
Teele Viira (Eesti Laul 2012, 2013)
Moving into the national finals circuit (For those more football inclined, think of them like the Euros Qualifiers), we head over to Estonia with two time Eesti Laul participant Teele Viira. Hailing from Lümanda on the island of Saaremaa, Viira played in the women’s section of the island’s main team, FC Kuresaare, whilst a teenager, before committing herself to music.
She rose to fame on Eesti otsib superstari, the Estonian version of the Idol franchise in 2011, reaching the top five.
The next year she reached the final of Eesti Laul as a soloist, with the song “City Nights”, but failed to match her feat as a third of Teele & Tuuli & Ula.
Since her last Eesti Laul participation she has become a mother, with one son and one daughter, and recently did some modelling work for Estonian sporting goods store Rademar.
Boris René Lumbana (Melodifestivalen 2016, 2017)
Boris René released his first single “Alive” in 2013. At the time, he was a part of the Örebro SK side chasing an immediate return to the Allsvenskan, the top flight of Swedish football, with René himself scoring 1 goal in 7 appearances for the club that season.
Following his Melodifestivalen 2016 appearance, Boris Lumbana, as he is known in the football word, left Superettan side Degerfors IF to concentrate on his music career. Following three years away from the sport, he returned to football with GAIS in 2019, staying with the club for two years.
After yet another break from the sport, he returned to action with Örebro SK Söder, a club founded by players of the former Örebro SK youth team who wanted to keep playing under the ÖSK family, albeit at a lower level. The team currently play in the 7th tier of Swedish football, and Lumbana recently scored a brace in a 4-2 win over Skyllbergs IK.
He last released a single in 2022, but is still in the limelight, starring in the live show “A show larger than life” which is currently in Gothenburg after a successful stint in Stockholm. The show, which also stars Melfest alums David Lindgren and Erik Segerstedt, as well as Kenny Lantz, who was a part of Nemo’s Eurovision winning stage team.
Somehow between all of this, he also found the time to be a part of the Swedish jury in Eurovision 2024.
Guðmundur Þórarinsson (Söngvakeppnin 2018)
Guðmundur Þórarinsson, who has perhaps the most Icelandic name ever, is also perhaps the best footballer to have tried to represent his country at Eurovision. Þórarinsson has played 15 times and counting for the Icelandic senior national team, including two appearances this year.
“Gudi” has played in the top flight of six countries – his native Iceland, Norway, Denmark, Sweden, The United States, and currently plays for OFI Crete in the Greek top flight. At the time of his Söngvakeppnin appearance he was a first team regular for IFK Norrköping in Sweden. He has won a league and cup double with Norway’s Rosenborg in 2016, as well as an MLS Cup with New York City FC in 2021.
He competed in Iceland’s national selection in 2018, placing 4th in the first semi final. with the very twee song “Litir”, failing to reach the final.
Atte Ranta & Reeta Huotarinen (Younghearted – UMK 2022)
In my opinion, one of the best tracks from 2022’s national final season was from the Finnish trio Younghearted, who placed 6th in a very strong edition of UMK with the indie pop track “Sun Numero.”
Two thirds of the group are former footballers, both goalkeepers. Guitarist Atte Ranta played for IFK Helsinki, reaching as high as the second tier of Finland with the club, as well as playing with several age groups, whilst Reeta played for PK-35. The pair, alongside bandmate Emil (who played championship level golf in Finland) quit their respective sports to pursue music as they perceived sport as being too performance oriented.
The group were initially signed to 325 Media, owned by Finland international footballers Jesse Joronen, Nikolai Alho (himself a musician – one for a future UMK?) and Valtteri Moren, who initially wanted to take on Atte as a soloist, but he decided to take Emil & Reeta with him to form the band, who have since released 3 albums together, the most recent in 2022.
Yoly Saa (Benidorm Fest 2024)
Next, we head back to Spain with the artist behind one of my absolute favourite tracks of this year.
Yoly Saa participated in Benidorm Fest this year with her pop folk song “No Se Me Olvida” – but much to my dismay failed to make it out of the semi final stage.
Unlike the rest of the list, Yoly Saa played her football indoors (technically this is futsal, but I love her song too much to leave her out), as a winger for Galician side Poio Pescamar in the early 2010s, whilst studying for her degree in Early Childhood education at the Faculty of Education and Sport of Pontevedra, part of the University of Vigo. During her stint, the club achieved promotion to the First Division, where they have remained ever since.
Initially Yoly only viewed music as a hobby, but after watching a televised showing of a Coldplay concert in Rio de Janeiro, moved to Madrid to give music a real go. She released her debut album in 2022 and has released a host of singles following on from her Benidorm appearance, including a new release just today, “Ciudad en Ruinas.”
Markus Henriksen – (Sheepboys – MGP Jr. 2004)
Norway international Markus Henriksen was one of the country’s best players during the 2010s, winning 58 caps for the national team and playing in the Premier League for Hull City.
He started his career at Trondheim based Rosenborg, where his father was Assistant Manager, and won two league titles in each of his first two seasons in his senior career. He also had a 5 year spell at AZ Alkmaar where he won a KNVB Cup, but has now returned to his home town club.
To be brutally honest, his musical talents are not up to par with his sporting ones. in 2004, together with his friends Robin and Bendik, he formed a rap group called Sheep Boys, named such because the boys all liked sheep.
In what can only be described as “rap performed by children in the early to mid 2000s” the three entered that year’s MGP Jr. – the preselection for Junior Eurovision, and performed “Damer er no dritt” – (a childlike way of saying “girls are shit”) The boys sang about how they did not understand women, and did not reach the superfinal stage. Markus is the one in the green, by the way.
What football star do you think would do well on the Eurovision stage? Let us know! Also, be sure to follow ‘That Eurovision Site’ on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, Threads, and Bluesky for all the latest Eurovision news and more!
News Source – That Eurovision Site / Various
Photo Credit – Hadrien Hanse / RBTF, Max Doughty / That Eurovision Site, RÚV, Janne Danielsson / SVT – Collage by That Eurovision Site)
Euan T
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