What is the Spanish national anthem Marcha Real about and why doesn’t Spain’s Euro 2024 song have any lyrics?
SPAIN are looking to make their mark in the UEFA Euro 2024 games with a new exciting generation of players.
And as ever, the Spanish national anthem might get fans wondering why there aren't any lyrics.
Why does Spain’s national anthem have no lyrics?
The Spanish anthem dates back to 1761 when it started out as the official march of Spain, until it later became the country’s national anthem.
Known as Marcha Real the wordless anthem was composed by Manuel de Espinosa de los Monteros.
And along with the , Kosovan and San Marino anthems, it is one of only four without any official lyrics.
There are also three official arrangements: one for orchestra, another for military band, and a third for organ.
Was Spain's national anthem always wordless?
Various versions have been written over the years to fit the music - but in 1978 the most recent was removed due to the nationalistic tone adopted in the Franco-approved verses.
Alejandro Blanco, president of the Spanish Olympic committee, launched a competition in 2007 to find lyrics after witnessing a rendition of You'll Never Walk Alone at Anfield.
A winner was chosen from 7,000 entries - but within five days was scrapped due to huge criticism from the public.
None of the lyrics ever suggested for the national anthem have been officially approved by the Spanish government, therefore it remains wordless.
How to watch Euro 2024
- Euro 2024 will be shown live on BBC and ITV this summer.
- You can live stream all the action from the BBC iPlayer or the ITV X app, both of which are available for download onto your mobile or tablet device.
- Games are FREE to watch, so long as you have a valid TV licence.
How to watch Euro 2024
Both ITV and BBC will be showing matches, with the decision on who is hosting what games already decided for the group stages — you can see a list of the confirmed TV picks of remaining games for each broadcaster below:
All the games will also be available on BBC iPlayer and ITVX respectively.
- 24-Jun Albania v Spain 8pm BBC
- 24-Jun Croatia v Italy 8pm BBC
- 25-Jun Netherland v Austria 5pm BBC
- 25-Jun France v Poland 5pm BBC
- 25-Jun England v Slovenia 8pm ITV
- 25-Jun Denmark v Serbia 8pm ITV
- 26-Jun Slovakia v Romania 5pm BBC
- 26-Jun Ukraine v Belgium 5pm BBC
- 26-Jun Georgia v Portugal 8pm ITV
- 26-Jun Czech Republic v Turkey 8pm ITV
TV for the knockout rounds of the tournament will be announced in due course.