World Cup 2018: How musicians are taking sides

From ex-players trying their hand at rapping to fans finding a new favourite national anthem, music and World Cups go hand-in-hand.

Teams can be galvanised by a great chant - so having big musicians in your corner can surely be a bonus.

But there's no official England anthem for Russia 2018.

So which nations have caught the ears of English musicians and where do loyalties lie for stars without a home nation to back?

The producer is the closest anyone has come to making anything that even remotely resembles Three Lions this year.

He's made the soundtrack to the BBC's World Cup, which will be used in the opening titles of the coverage.

His reworking of a traditional Russian folk song might not go down as an instant classic but it's got "solid sporting montage" written all over it.

Robbie didn't do footballer-musician relations any favours during his performance at the opening ceremony.

Let Me Entertain You got the crowd going but a middle finger salute during Rock DJ confused the billions watching around the world.

With US broadcaster Fox, among others, apologising for showing the offensive gesture, it seems unlikely he'll be welcomed with open arms by any other nation if / when England don't go all the way.

As part of his current world tour, George recently stopped off in Brazil.

In a message to fans he said he "saw absolutely nothing of the country".

But he did see thousands of "beaming faces... in what I'm fairly sure is usually a car park".

George got so carried away that he got changed into a Brazilian football shirt for the encore.

"Was it it too much?" he asked his fans.

Although we'd assume Ed Sheeran will be backing England, he's another musician who is known for donning football shirts depending on where he's performing.

That said, he hasn't shown any clear allegiance to anyone but Gareth Southgate's men going for a simple but effective "yay for the World Cup starting" on Instagram.

Being famously Canadian, the first issue for Shawn is that his home country didn't qualify for Russia.

He's not been shy about who he's backing instead - as he's written the official anthem for the Portugal squad.

Well we say written - he's done a version of In My Blood with a bit of Portuguese thrown in.

The new lyrics include "Que vamos conquistar...Nos somos Portugal...Uma so voz e um coracao" - which of course translates as "We are going to conquer...We are Portugal...One voice and one heart"

Yes, we were confused at first too. But it turns out his dad is Portuguese and Cristiano Ronaldo is one of Shawn's "biggest inspirations".

Hailing from New York, Cardi B is another musician without a home nation to back.

The rapper was on the verge of taking her frustration out on the England squad after a bit of confusion around a gambling advert.

To some, it looked like the bookmaker Paddy Power had spray painted a polar bear with the St George's flag - calling it "England 'til I dye".

But it turns out it was all a hoax - to try to help the conservation of polar bears in the Russian Arctic.

Paddy Power said sorry for causing any offence.

Cardi B isn't shy when it comes to giving her opinion and in quite a heated video she ranted about it on her Instagram.

Then realising her mistake Cardi said: "I'm gonna kill ya!!! So the whole time they wanted to protect the pretty polar bears... all to help bring awareness to this cause!!!"

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