14 Times the National Anthem Was Accidentally Replaced by Some Random Song
Oh say, can you see
By the dawn’s early light
What so proudly we hailed
Caught in the undertow, just caught in the undertow
1895: A Canal Opening in Germany
During a nautical parade, a German band was supposed to play the Turkish national anthem as a ship from Turkiye passed by. Realizing for the first time in that moment that he didn’t have the sheet music, the band leader thought fast, noticed the moon on their flag and whipped his band into a rousing rendition of “Guter Mond” (“Good Moon”).
1952: Summer Olympics
It was such a long shot that any athlete from Luxembourg would win, the band didn’t bother to learn the Luxembourgian anthem. When runner Josy Barthel stunned the world by winning gold in the 1,500 meter race, the band just kind of stood around and twiddled their thumbs.
1953: The German Chancellor Got Sick of Hearing Carnival Music
Because East Germany had called dibs on “Auferstanden aus Ruinen,” and because they had bigger fish to fry, it took a few years for West Germany to declare their own national anthem. In the interim, carnival tunes were used as placeholders. Chancellor Konrad Adenauer got sick of that, and strong-armed the president into allowing one verse of the song “Deutschlandlied” to serve as the anthem in 1952. Unfortunately, Chicago didn’t get the memo, and the chancellor was greeted there by a jaunty carnie tune the next year.
1957: Ice Hockey World Championships
The USSR was so sure they’d win the tournament they were hosting, the band didn’t bother to learn Sweden’s national anthem. When the Swedes won, the players boldly promised to sing it themselves, but it quickly became clear they didn’t know the words. It devolved into the drinking song “Helan Går.” The English translation isn’t much help; it goes: “Here’s the first / Sing ‘hup fol-de-rol la la la la.’”
1967: South African Grand Prix
When Mexican driver Pedro Rodríguez won the race and took to the podium, the South African band was caught off-guard. In a stunning but predictable act of racism, they played the closest song they knew: the “Mexican Hat Dance.”
1991: Five Nations Championship
Scotland has taken the time to declare a national animal — it’s the unicorn — but it hasn’t gotten around to making an official national anthem. When the Scottish rugby team requested “Flower of Scotland” as their unofficial official song, the French band was like, “Nah, we don’t know that one,” and played “Scots Wha Hae,” a much older anthem stand-in.
2008: Australian Football League Semifinals
Just before kicking off the game between the Western Bulldogs and the Sydney Swans, the stadium accidentally popped on AC/DC’s “It’s a Long Way to the Top (If You Wanna Rock ‘n’ Roll).”
2014: A Malta/Slovakia Soccer Match
A friendly game of football was kicked off not with the Malta national anthem, but with the beginning of Linkin Park’s “Numb.”
2019: Rugby World Cup
During a ceremony before a warm-up match hosted by Australia, those in attendance waiting to solemnly respect the anthem of Argentina were treated to U2’s “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For.”
2021: Africa Cup of Nations
Before a soccer match between Gambia and Mauritania kicked off, the stadium hit play on Mauritania’s former national anthem. They tried again, and the same song played. Two more times!
2021: Kontinental Hockey League
When Belarus traveled to Finland, the hosting club got confused and somehow selected the anthem of the island nation of Palau because its title “Belau Rekid” looked like the word “Belarus.” The team was fined 100,000 rubles.
2022: Indian Elections
At a very important political rally, someone hit play on the national anthem… of Nepal. They tried again, and played India’s national song, which is not the same as their national anthem. They finally got it right — sort of — when they played all five stanzas of the hymn “Bharoto Bhagyo Bidhata” (only the first stanza is the official national anthem).
2022-2023: So Weird, They Keep Playing a Pro-Hong Kong Protest Anthem When the World Is Watching
At the Asia Rugby Sevens Series, then at the Asian Classic Powerlifting Championship, and again at the Men’s Ice Hockey World Championships, the protest anthem “Glory to Hong Kong” was played instead of the Chinese National Anthem. Each time, the Hong Kong government “demanded an investigation.”
2025: A Global Robotics Competition
When Bulgaria’s team was given the opportunity to sing their anthem to the gathered competitors, one young man stood front and center, microphone in hand, and riffed a bunch of nothing to a completely different tune. Even if you don’t speak Bulgarian, you can tell in his teammates’ faces how off he was.