“Fire” – that’s the name of the official UEFA song for the European Football Championship, which was released on Friday night. It is an electronic-tinged pop song by the Italian dance trio Meduza. The song is sung by the US band OneRepublic ("Apologize") and the German singer Leony ("Remedy").

“The request was a huge deal for me, of course because I come from a football-crazy family,” the musician, who was born as Leonie Burger in the Upper Palatinate (Bavaria), told the German Press Agency. Her brother Korbinian currently plays for the Saxon third division club FC Erzgebirge Aue. "I basically grew up on the sidelines of the football pitches. My family, including my brothers, are of course incredibly proud of me," added the 26-year-old.

“Fire” will also be played after goals in the stadium at the home European Championships in the summer. Some fans are bothered by this because they favored "Major Tom" by Peter Schilling as the German goal anthem. "I understand that the goal anthem could have been German, but that's not my decision. But the fact that the official anthem is sung in English is something completely normal. That's why I find the discussion a bit difficult," explained Leony.

After the announcement in March, the singer made hateful comments public on social media. It's a shame that some German fans allowed themselves to be carried away by this. "I don't understand how people can have so much hatred for a song and for me. But it leaves me cold now because I'm really looking forward to the European Championships and feel honored to be able to work with such great artists on the song. "

In 2014, Leony took part in the live casting show “Rising Star” with her band at the time. The singer, who was born in Cham, Upper Palatinate, celebrated her first major success in 2021 with “Faded Love”, followed a year later by “Remedy”. Last year, Leony sat as a juror on the casting jury for “Deutschland sucht den Superstar”.