The 2026 FIFA World Cup has brought a familiar stadium sound to global football, but many American sports fans already knew it through one of basketball’s most iconic dynasties.
The track playing as teams walk out before matches is not a new FIFA creation or a modern tournament anthem. It is a decades-old instrumental that became part of sports history long before this World Cup kicked off across North America.
Now, its return on a global football stage has sparked fresh interest in the song’s name, its unusual origins and the NBA team that made it famous.
World Cup walkout song Sirius became famous through Chicago Bulls introductions
The song heard in the World Cup walkout video is “Sirius” by The Alan Parsons Project.
Released in 1982 on the album Eye in the Sky, the instrumental was originally just an atmospheric lead-in to the title track. It was not written as a sports anthem, but its slow build and dramatic synth line made it perfect for player entrances.
The Chicago Bulls helped turn it into something much bigger. In the mid-1980s, then-public address announcer Tommy Edwards started using “Sirius” during starting lineup introductions.
By the time Michael Jordan’s Bulls were winning six championships in the 1990s, the song had become inseparable from their identity. Its rising tension turned every name into part of a championship story.
FIFA World Cup 2026 uses Sirius to turn every walkout into a stadium ritual
FIFA’s use of “Sirius” works because the track already carries the language of anticipation, even for fans who do not immediately connect it to the Bulls.
During the 2026 World Cup, the song plays as players enter the pitch before national anthems. That placement matters because walkouts are not just logistics, they are the emotional shift from pre-match noise to national ceremony.
The Alan Parsons Project has also acknowledged the track’s use during the tournament, helping to connect the football moment back to the song’s original creators.
It is a fitting choice for a World Cup hosted in the United States, Canada, and Mexico. In American arenas, “Sirius” already signals a big-game atmosphere, so FIFA is leaning on a proven cue and giving it a wider stage.
That is why the song feels both old and new in 2026. It began as a piece of progressive rock, became the sound of Jordan’s Bulls, and is now helping every World Cup team walk into its own moment.
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