If you’ve ever watched a French football (soccer) game, you’ve probably noticed that fans shout out some very energetic and catchy songs and cheers. These songs differ depending on the team fans are cheering for, of course. (And it’s not just French fans who do this–if you’ve ever watched a Liverpool game, you might be familiar with You’ll Never Walk Alone).

Here are some of the most famous French songs and cheers for various football clubs, along with their translations:

For the fans of Olympique de Marseille, the Marseille football club, they famously sing Aux Armes. The lyrics are as follows:

Aux armes

Aux armes

Nous sommes les marseillais

Nous sommes les marseillais

Et nous allons gagner

Et nous allons gagner

Allez l’OM, allez l’OM

(To arms!

To arms!

We are from Marseilles

We are from Marseilles

And we will win

And we will win

Go OM, go OM)

For fans of the Olympique Gymnaste Club Nice (OGC), they have another, perhaps more familiar song:

Les gens veulent savoir,
Qui nous sommes,
Et nous le leur disons,
Qui nous sommes,
Brigade brigade brigade sud,
Brigade brigade brigade sud,
La brigade sud la brigade sud la brigade sud est toujours là,
on chantera on chantera on chantera jusqu’à la mort on chantera,
Allez allez allez allez allez allez allez allez…

(People want to know,

who we are,

and we tell them,

who we are,

The southern brigade

The southern brigade

The southern brigade, the southern brigade is always here

we will sing, we will sing, until death we will sing

go go go go go)

 

And, then, for supporters of the Montpellier Hérault Sport Club (MHSC), their famous short chant goes as follows:

Hé Montpellier!
La la la la Paillade!
Ce soir on est venu chanter
Et on lachera jamais!

(Hey Montpellier!

La Pallaide! (note: a suburb of the city of Montpellier)

Tonight we came to sing

and we’ll never let it go!)

 

You can listen to a stadium full of Montpellier fans singing “Hé Montpellier!” here:

 

Do you know of any other French chants or football songs? Post them in the comments below!