Abba would have returned to music sooner, had it not been for the English football association

Photo: Olle Lindeborg / AFP / Getty Images

The legendary quartet Abba is very present these days after the release of his first two singles after nothing less than 40 years of record silence. It is about two songs, entitled “I still have faith in you” and “Don’t shut me down” , which already occupy the first chart positions after being played and downloaded by millions of people in the last few hours. And this is only the beginning, since soon the Swedish artists will publish the rest of their new material, which is integrated into the album Voyage , and next year they will offer some innovative concerts in London featuring their holograms.

Curiously, last Friday Sven-Goran Eriksson , the Swedish coach who led the English football team between the years 2001 and 2006, revealed on his way through the morning show “Good Morning Britain” , of the channel ITV , that the four artists could have returned to the music scene much earlier had it not been for the refusal of the Football Association – the governing body of the beautiful game in England – to receive an express song amente composed for the national team by himself Benny Andersson , and performed together to her colleagues Agnetha Fältskog , Björn Ulvaeus and Anni-Frid Lyngstad .

“At that time I used to work closely with Tord Grip , who is a great friend of Benny Andersson . One day I called Benny and asked him, ‘Would you like to do a song for England before the big tournament starts?’ I think it was a World Cup ”, Eriksson revealed before the astonished faces of the space presenters, who did not take long to ask him why such a project never saw the light of day.

The so-called FA (for its acronym in English) declined such a proposal, which probably would have been very well received by the English fans, due to the special affection of the Abba has always enjoyed himself in British lands, solely and exclusively for the fact that the band was not native of the country. “I went to speak to the FA board of directors to tell them that Abba were willing to do the song, but they said no, that we couldn’t use Swedish singers for an English team song. They told me they had to be English. The truth is that I thought it was a shame, but I also understand his reasons, ”Eriksson explained.

You may also like:

Harvey Weinstein denies that he attempted to sexually assault Angelina Jolie

French actor Jean-Paul Belmondo dies at 88 years, at his home in Paris

What will Enrique Iglesias do with his life after releasing the last album of his career?