As the week two of 2022/2023 UEFA Champions League returns today, the UEFA anthem will not be played in England or Scotland this week as a mark of respect and tribute to the late Queen of Britain, Queen Elizabeth II.
The popular UEFA theme song which is titled ‘Champions League’ was composed by the English music composer, Tony Britten in 1992, and it is said to be closely related to George Frideric Handel’s composition Zadok the Priest.
Symbolically, Zadok the Priest is traditionally performed at the coronation of British monarchs but it won’t be heard ahead of the Champions League matches on British soil this week.
The composer of the anthem, Britten had said in an interview in 2013 that ‘There’s a rising string phase which I pinched from Handel and then I wrote my own tune.
‘It has a kind of Handelian feel to it but I like to think it’s not a total rip-off.’
