'So good!' How Sweet Caroline became the sport anthem to end all sport anthems

It ended as it was always going to - assuming England triumphed - with the inevitable song. After Chloe Kelly's decisive penalty won Euro 2025 for the Lionesses, the squad and coaching sprinted towards the England fans, and over the PA came the familiar baritone: "Where it began / I can't begin to know when..." And there was Sarina Wiegman, the team's head coach, and the players punching the air, shouting: "So good! So good! So good!"

- Michael Hann

Sweet Caroline, Neil Diamond's 1969 song has been the de facto anthem of English sporting success since 2021, when it was played after the men's team's matches at the delayed Euro 2020, in the UK. And even then it was simply by chance. UEFA, the governing body of European football, had sent a suggested post-match playlist to the English FA, including Billie Jean by Michael Jackson and I Predict a Riot by Kaiser Chiefs, but someone in the FA - perhaps spotting problematic elements in both songs - suggested Sweet Caroline instead, and a ritual was born.