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How Iceland embraced Motherwell’s Viking Chant at Euro 2016

By on July 3, 2016

Despite their 5-2 loss to hosts France, Iceland’s Viking Chant has become an Internet sensation as their national team completed their vertiginous rise to the Euro 2016 quarterfinals. This is the story of how the chant came to be.

Stjarnan FC, from the small costal region of Garðabær in Iceland, are well known in the Icelandic first division for their novel goal celebrations.  Over the years, their celebrations have been inspired by swimming, the movie Rambo, bobsledding, ballroom dancing, cycling, and even toilets, to name a few.

In the summer of 2014, the club took their choreographed celebrations on tour after a third-place finish in the Icelandic top division, the Úrvalsdeild, gave them entry into the first round of Europa League qualifying.  They also took a new chant home with them after a wild run all the way to a Europa League playoff meeting with Inter Milan at the San Siro.

Stjarnan breezed through the first round after blowing out semi-professional Welsh side Bangor City 8-0 over two legs and faced Scottish Premiership side Motherwell in the second round.  The first leg was held in Scotland and Stjarnan brought a large faction of traveling supporters on the trip.

Our story now diverts from the pitch (Stjarnan drew Motherwell 2-2 and would go on to win the tie in the second leg courtesy of a stunning extra-time volley) to the stands, where the traveling supporters from Iceland took notice in an intimidating tribal chant that echoed from the home section at Fir Park.

It involved the supporters clapping and shouting in unison at an increasingly frequent pace before erupting in cheers — bearing semblance to New Zealand’s famous Haka.  Even when the battlecry is performed by a small group of people it can be terrifying; when tens of thousands unite in the chant, it is breathtakingly chilling.

Motherwell fans claim to have performed the guttural-sounding cry — known as the “Huh” — for many years, but it has only reached the mainstream at this summer’s European Championships by the way of the Icelandic national team.

Stjnarnan supporters took the chant back with them to Iceland and it began to gain traction at the nation’s Euro 2016 qualifying games.  The chant has now become symbolic of Iceland’s spectacular rise in European football with the triumphant Icelanders performing it on every step of their way towards a remarkable quarterfinal finish at the Euros.

The chant has emanated from every bar and street corner in Iceland this summer as the small island nation was captivated by their football team.  When Cardiff City midfielder Aron Gunnarsson led the chant in front of thousands of triumphant traveling fans after Iceland’s toppling of England in the Round of 16, much speculation began to circle around the chant’s origin.

Due to its tribal nature, many assumed that it had ties to the Vikings; indeed, some are still insistent that the Nordic seafarers used it to row in sync. Although it’s unlikely that the chant (also known as the “Viking Clap” and “Volcano Chant”) has actual historical ties, it still serves an emblematic purpose.

Then again, pillaging the chant from a foreign land was probably how the Vikings would have wanted it all along.

“It is metaphorical, we want our team to row faster and faster and get the ball into that goal,” one Iceland supporter told Goal.com.

“We feel like Vikings when we do the chant,” said another.

“I actually think the most powerful thing about the Viking roar is the silence between the roars.”

Certainly, it gives the national team an intimidating air of unity and determination that can spook even the most confident of nations (e.g.; Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal, whom Iceland drew in the Group Stages of Euro 2016), and represents the fighting spirit of the entire nation.

About Alex Morgan

Alex Morgan, founder of Football Every Day, lives and breaths football from the West Coast of the United States in California. Aside from founding Football Every Day in January of 2013, Alex has also launched his own journalism career and hopes to help others do the same with FBED. He covers the San Jose Earthquakes as a beat reporter for QuakesTalk.com and his work has also been featured in the BBC's Match of the Day Magazine.