As the National Women’s Soccer League finals kick off on Saturday in San Jose, Calif., fans of the Washington Spirit and Gotham FC are bringing more than jerseys and banners. They’re bringing an entire culture of singing and chanting that has become central to the league’s game-day experience.

For supporters of the Washington D.C. team, that energy has been building all season. The Spirit Squadron, one of the club’s major fan groups, has spent months preparing the repertoire they’ll unleash from the stands on Saturday.

“We have a chant just for when we score,” said Squadron president Meredith Bartley, of a raucous, snare drum-laced chant celebrating getting the ball into the back of the net. It’s set to the nursery song “The Animals Went in Two by Two.” There’s a chant (with the endearing refrain “You’re my favorite soccer team!”) for when fans are simply having a blast.

And there’s one rooted in local politics. “This season, we’ve started in the 51st minute a ‘Free D.C.’ chant,” Bartley said. The chant nods to the long-standing push for D.C. home rule and statehood, and grew out of heightened tensions earlier this year, when the Trump administration took control of the district’s police force and deployed National Guard troops to the city.

Borrowing from the global soccer canon

Spirit supporters also borrow from the global soccer canon. When the energy in the stadium dips, they’ll sometimes launch into a playful chant appropriated from English Premier League crowds. “Let’s pretend we scored a goal,” they repeat.

New York and New Jersey-based Gotham FC supporters — who will be cheering on the Spirit’s opponents in the championship match — have similarly embraced U.K. soccer songs. One in particular has become an anthem.

John Denver’s “Take Me Home, Country Roads,” famously sung by Manchester United fans at their stadium, Old Trafford, has taken on a new life in the tri-state area. In 2023, Gotham FC fans reworked the song into “Gotham Roads,” a tribute to the team and the region.

“To use ‘Country Roads’ was actually my idea,” said Marge Liguori, who leads Cloud 9, a big Gotham FC supporters group. “I do also happen to be a Manchester United fan. So I kind of borrowed that, but worked with other fans to adapt the lyrics.”

All in it together

For Liguori, the song resonates because it evokes a sense of home. “I think that’s what we find in our arena and in our community with our team,” she said.

This feeling of belonging is paramount to understanding why singing and chanting are such an integral part of sports events.

“Really, the team is more of just a metaphor for the community,” said Max Jack, an ethnomusicologist and anthropologist at Indiana University who has studied the intersection of sports and music. He said singing and chanting allow fans to go through the emotional journey that is a soccer game together.

“It creates a sense of stranger intimacy that is incredibly deep and fulfilling,” Jack said. “It offers something that most people won’t access in their day-to-day life.”

That intimacy extends beyond fan-to-fan relationships. Chants also help build bonds between supporters and the players they root for. After Gotham FC’s 2023 NWSL championship, fans serenaded defender Mandy Freeman as she approached the stands. Freeman wiped away tears as she hugged fans across the railings.

Those interactions — along with the fans’ overall enthusiasm — matter to the team, Jeff Greer, Gotham FC’s vice president of communications, told NPR. “When we hear them chanting, we know that they are at our backs pushing us to victory,” he said.

The Spirit feel the same way. Their home matches at Audi Field in Washington D.C. are known for their high-octane atmosphere. “Our players regularly credit ‘Rowdy Audi’ for being the 12th player on the field,” said Spirit director of communications Ben Kessler. “And a lot of that is because of how creative their chants and cheers are.”