Football Herbert Grönemeyer
“FIFA still owes me 45,000 euros, a gangster club”
Status: 10:30 a.m. | Reading time: 2 minutes
“Time for something to change” – Herbert Grönemeyer sang the official tournament song before the opening match of the 2006 World Cup in Munich
Source: picture-alliance/Press photo ULMER/Robert Michael
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The summer fairytale once started with a song by Herbert Grönemeyer. Before the opening match of the 2006 World Cup, he sang “Time for things to change.” In an interview, Grönemeyer now talks about the “uncomfortable collaboration” with FIFA.
It is almost exactly 18 years to the day since Herbert Grönemeyer was able to open the 2006 World Cup in Germany with music. Before the opening match of the Germans against Costa Rica, the musician sang his official World Cup song “Time for something to change” in the Munich Arena. A song that Grönemeyer does not only have fond memories of, despite the success.
In an interview with the football magazine “11 Freunde”, Grönemeyer spoke about the song and gave insights into the collaboration with the world association FIFA. “I still get money from FIFA for my performance at the opening ceremony. To this day! They owe my musicians and me almost 45,000 euros,” the 68-year-old music star criticizes the organizer of the World Cup.
Grönemeyer, who recorded “Zeit, dass sich was dreht” together with the Malian duo Amadou & Mariam, describes FIFA as a “gangster club” and explains that the association has the official rights to its own melody (“Oeoeoe”), which every performer of the official tournament song has to include in their song. This means that FIFA earns money from every tournament anthem.
“Unpleasant collaboration”
In the interview, the German music legend also remembers the behavior of the FIFA officials at the opening match in Munich: “They came in brown bomber jackets and ran through the stadium – like a gang. I was so angry with them back then.” The image of the world association has been damaged for years by scandals and corruption.
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“Overall, it was a very unpleasant collaboration,” said Grönemeyer, who has moved on from the issue despite the outstanding fee. “I wrote the song to make things happen. Funnily enough, it worked – not because of the song, it was just a great tournament.”
