"Football March" - a march written by the Soviet composer Matthew Blanter in 1938 . Traditionally sounded at football matches in the USSR. Now it sounds at the matches of the Higher, First and Second Leagues of the Russian Championship , as well as other football tournaments in the territory of the former USSR . It also sometimes sounds at friendly and European competitions with teams from the former USSR.
Written by Blanter at the request of the famous sports radio commentator Vadim Sinyavsky . The first to hear the melody was composer Dmitry Shostakovich and his son Maxim , the future pianist and conductor [1] .
The march is written in key in E flat major in two parts with an introduction. The introduction is based on the material of the main topic and is performed by a vibraphone with the engine turned off; this is the tune of “sports callsigns”, once popular on radio and television. The total duration of the composition is 1 minute.
In the USSR it was usually performed in two versions: with “callsigns” - when players entered the field, without “callsigns” and with a changed ending - after the game was completed.
In 2009, a conflict was connected with the football march between the Russian Football Premier League and the Russian Authors Society , which required the Football Association to use the Football March for 0.2% of the amount received from the sale of tickets for matches. The granddaughter and heiress of the composer Tatyana Brodskaya through her official representative confirmed that the march was written as a gift to the football community and, therefore, its performance at the Premier League matches is free [2] .