Ask a certain generation of Nigerians about their first memory of hearing their local music in a video game, and some will name (2006) in a pirated version of PES/Winning Eleven. For some, it was “For Instance” and other songs. Officially, Konami never put them there.
PES/Winning Eleven is Konami鈥檚 football game series, the one that reigned in Nigerian game centres through the 2000s alongside FIFA. It came pre-installed with composed instrumental music and stadium staples, like Queen’s 鈥淲e Will Rock You.鈥 There were no Nigerian songs on it. The 2Baba and other local songs were a bootleg among Nigerians to create a familiar sound while gaming.
This is the unofficial origin of Nigerian music in football and football gaming. The song didn鈥檛 get there through a licensing deal. It was through piracy. Bootleggers who copied and resold the game swapped its audio, so a whole generation grew up with a Nigerian song built into their football game. Nigerian music got into football through the back door, facilitated by the very people playing it.
But music has always gone hand in hand with football, and it鈥檚 through EA鈥檚 FIFA franchise, which launched in 1997, that it became part of gaming. FIFA: Road to World Cup 98 was the first game in the series to license real pop music (not commission its own). Blur鈥檚 鈥淪ong 2鈥 blared over the intro. That was the beginning. Under Steve Schnur, who has run EA鈥檚 music operation for most of the years since, the FIFA soundtrack became a tastemaker. The soundtracks became the reason a teenager in Lagos or London might discover Phoenix through FIFA 09 or Sigur R贸s through FIFA 11. EA chose the songs and, in doing so, shaped global taste in music. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 a FIFA song鈥 became its own category of music.
Africa began showing on that official stage before the decade was out. (sung partly in Nigerian Pidgin) on the 2009 FIFA 10 soundtrack. This makes her the first Nigerian artist on an official FIFA game.
The next year, EA built a dedicated soundtrack for its 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa game, and Schnur singled out the Nigerian drummer Babatunde Olatunji among other African artists. But that was world-music curation for a tournament staged in Africa, not Nigerian pop music. Afropop, soon to be everywhere on the current soundtrack, was still warming up.
The big breakthrough came on FIFA 20. London-based on the official soundtrack. There was also 鈥淎wa Ni鈥 by American duo The Knocks with Nigerian artist Kah-Lo on it. They became the first of a new generation, and the wave came fast behind them. FIFA 21 brought Fireboy DML鈥檚 鈥淪catter,鈥 with Rema, Skepta and Burna Boy appearing on the game鈥檚 VOLTA street-football playlist. By FIFA 23, the presence had swelled: Seun Kuti, Pheelz, BNXN, Olamide, Bad Boy Timz. In the space of four years, Nigerian music went from 鈥淥ou, we made it鈥 to expected.
Then it wobbled. When EA dropped the FIFA name and launched the rebranded EA Sports FC 24, Nigerian music was left entirely off the main soundtrack. The only Nigerian on it was Obongjayar, and only through a guest feature on a British rapper鈥檚 track. FC25 brought Nigerian music back the next year, with Rema and Shallipopi鈥檚 鈥淏enin Boys,鈥 Omah Lay, and Obongjayar again. Then FC26 dropped it once more, leaving Obongjayar鈥攐n his fifth appearance across four editions鈥攁s the lone Nigerian-born name while bigger stars came and went. The relationship, in other words, is real but not guaranteed. Each year, EA decides again whether Nigerian music is in or out.
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This makes the World Cup song a different, higher-ceilinged one than a video game soundtrack. The official World Cup anthem is its own tradition, older than the video game and separate from it. It runs back through decades of tournament songs to landmarks like Giorgio Moroder鈥檚 鈥淯n鈥檈state italiana,鈥 the swelling anthem of Italia 鈥90, and takes in Ricky Martin鈥檚 鈥溾 and Shakira鈥檚 own 鈥溾 along the way. A Nigerian first joined this list in 2022 when the lead single of the Qatar World Cup theme song, with American singer Trinidad Cardona and Qatari singer Aisha.
Four years later, to make the official song of the FIFA World Cup 2026. It was performed at the opening ceremony of the biggest sporting event on earth, and during its half-time show. The Super Eagles didn鈥檛 qualify for the tournament, beaten by DR Congo in a playoff, so the country鈥檚 music reached where the team couldn鈥檛.
This song isn鈥檛 a track buried at number sixty on a hundred-song playlist. It鈥檚 the official song of the FIFA World Cup, and it鈥檚 a different category from a soundtrack slot. A playlist inclusion is a song EA licensed. A World Cup anthem is the sound FIFA chose to represent the entire tournament.
Thread the timeline, and you can see that pirated games in the mid-2000s, where Nigerians had to insert their own music by force, were door-openers. The music travelled from something game players ripped into the game to something its biggest stage is platforming. But it鈥檚 not quite the triumph it looks like yet.
Twice now, a Nigerian artist has been on a World Cup song, and both times as a guest. Davido on 鈥淗ayya Hayya鈥 with two other singers. Burna Boy is alongside Shakira on 鈥淒ai Dai鈥 which he co-wrote with five others. The song came out on a Latin label Shakira signed to. A World Cup song often brings several countries together on one track, so shared billing is common. But it鈥檚 not the rule, as those earlier solo songs show. The format allows a single artist to carry it, which means the supporting role here was a choice rather than something the format forced. But set that beside the rest of the timeline, and a pattern holds rather than breaks. Nigerian music made the FIFA soundtrack, then got dropped, then returned, then got dropped again.
It reached the World Cup, but as a guest on someone else鈥檚 song. At every stage, the genre is present because someone else chose to include it. EA, perhaps, owes Nigerian music nothing. A soundtrack is theirs to fill however they like, and dropping a genre is a normal commercial call.
Nigerian music hasn鈥檛 yet been handed one of these on its own. But that鈥檚 a small complaint next to the distance already covered. Twenty years ago, the only way to hear a Nigerian song in a football game was to get a pirated or cracked version. That was a workaround born out of exclusion because the music wasn鈥檛 offered a way into the centre.
Now the music stands on its biggest stage. But getting on the stage isn鈥檛 the same as owning it.听Nigerian music is present because EA, FIFA, and a Colombian headliner鈥檚 label chose to include it, and it holds its place only as long as they keep choosing. It has gone from exclusion to inclusion. What it鈥檚 yet to win is command of the room.
We鈥檝e gone from being ignored to being invited, but the real work won鈥檛 be done until we own a seat at the table.
