Those watching the Coronation of King Charles III may be surprised to hear a familiar piece of music which they would usually associate with Champions League football.
Handel's 'Zadok the Priest' is used as the inspiration for the Champions League theme, with an amended version written for the inauguration of the competition in 1992. The original, however, has ties to the royal family.
Zadok the Priest was composed ahead of the Coronation of George II in 1727, and has been performed at every coronation since. This will not change when Charles III is crowned king, though this will be the first such event to take place since European football's top competition came into being.
"It was a long time ago and to be honest it was just another job," Tony Britten, the man responsible for the Champions League theme, told The BBC in 2020. "The old European Cup had become a very tired competition and to Uefa's credit they wanted to elevate the sport around the time when there was of a lot of hooliganism right across Europe.
"Uefa wanted this competition to be about the best of football rather than the worst and said they must have an anthem. The World Cup in Italy had just had the three tenors so classical music was all the range."
Britten's version has lyrics in multiple languages, using superlatives including "the greatest" and "the best". "Some say the tune is nicked from Handel but it's not," he added. "It's just the first writing string phrase and the rest is me."
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The Coronation of King Charles III has also impacted the weekend's football programme. The king and queen consort are due to arrive at Westminster Abbey at 10:53am, with a service beginning at 11.00 and the new monarch being crowned at noon.
There will be no lunchtime kick-off in any of the top four divisions in England, with only five Premier League games taking place on Saturday. In a rare move, one of the 3pm kick-offs - Manchester City's game against Leeds United - will be broadcast live on TV with the usual 3pm blackout lifted.
The final day of the Championship season has also been moved, and will now take place on Bank Holiday Monday. The final round of League Two games will be held on the same day, while League One will conclude on Sunday.
Earlier in the season, a number of games across the English football pyramid were postponed following the death of Queen Elizabeth II. These were all rearranged for later in the season, with many teams playing their rearranged September games during the second half of the campaign.
