The Viking Thunder Clap or Viking Clap is a football chant, consisting of a loud shout and a clap in unison, which is then repeated initially several seconds later and gradually speeding up over time. The chant has been performed by fans of a number of clubs, but came to prominence during the

UEFA Euro 2016 The 2016 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2016 (stylised as UEFA EURO 2016) or simply Euro 2016, was the 15th UEFA European Championship, the quadrennial international men's football championship of Europe o ...

, when fans of Iceland national team introduced their 'viking clap' or 'volcano clap' with a 'huh' chant. During the

2018 FIFA World Cup The 2018 FIFA World Cup was the 21st FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's national football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Russia from 14 June to 15 July 2018, after the country was awarded the hosting righ ...

when Iceland were one of the participating teams, the clap once again drew attention. The Viking Thunder Clap has been adopted by fans of many countries worldwide.

Origin

The chant may have been inspired by the film '' 300'' released in 2006. Some believed the chant was first used by fans of Scottish club

Motherwell F.C. Motherwell Football Club is a Scottish professional football club based in Motherwell, North Lanarkshire, which plays in the Scottish Premiership. Motherwell have not dropped out of the top-flight of Scottish football since 1985, and have l ...

, while others suggest it had been performed by fans of the French club

Lens A lens is a transmissive optical device which focuses or disperses a light beam by means of refraction. A simple lens consists of a single piece of transparent material, while a compound lens consists of several simple lenses (''elements ...

more than two decades prior. Fans of the Greek side PAOK have also chanted "PAOK" on the clap of hands since the mid 1990s. Styrmir Gislason, the head of the Association of Icelandic Football Fans stated that the chant was inspired by Polish handball chants. During the

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its ...

performed unexpectedly well and reached the quarter-finals, and the performance of the chant by their fans drew the attention of other European fans, who then also performed the chant. It has since been adopted by fans in many countries worldwide.

Other teams

Fans of the following teams regularly perform versions of the viking clap: * Esteghlal fans performed the Viking clap immediately after the end of the

; With each clap, they call their team nickname "S.S". *

Persepolis , native_name_lang = , alternate_name = , image = Gate of All Nations, Persepolis.jpg , image_size = , alt = , caption = Ruins of the Gate of All Nations, Persepolis. , map = , map_type ...

supporters began using the Viking clap immediately since

Branko Branko (Cyrillic script: Бранко; ) is a South Slavic male given name found in all of the former Yugoslavia. It is related to the names Branimir and Branislav, and the female equivalent is Branka. People named Branko include: * Branko Bab ...

Era. *

Canberra Raiders The Canberra Raiders are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the national capital city of Canberra, Australian Capital Territory. They have competed in Australasia's elite rugby league competition, the National Rugby ...

fans began using the chant in 2016 after the Icelandic version came to prominence. *

Carolina Hurricanes The Carolina Hurricanes (colloquially known as the Canes) are a professional ice hockey team based in Raleigh, North Carolina. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conferenc ...

perform a variant called "The Storm Surge." * India national football team have started using the viking clap since Blue Pilgrims was formed. It was used by the Indian national team during both the 2019 AFC Asian Cup and

2022 FIFA World Cup qualification (AFC) The Asian section of the 2022 FIFA World Cup qualificationAlso the "AFC Asian Qualifiers Road to Qatar". acted as qualifiers for the 2022 FIFA World Cup to be held in Qatar for national teams who are members of the Asian Football Confederation ...

. *

Minnesota Vikings The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) North division. Founded in 1960 as an expansi ...

chant 'skol' rather than the 'huh' since 2016. * Seattle Sounders perform a variant called "Boom, Boom, Clap" dating to before the club was reformed in 2009, chanting 'hey' rather than 'huh'. *

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...

fans have performed the "Boom, Boom, Clap" chant since 2008. *

Vancouver Canucks The Vancouver Canucks are a professional ice hockey team based in Vancouver. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference, and play their home games at Rogers Arena. Bruce ...

used the 'Viking clap' at the final career home game for now-retired Swedish twins

Daniel Daniel is a masculine given name and a surname of Hebrew origin. It means "God is my judge"Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 68. (cf. Gabriel—"God is my strength"), ...

and Henrik Sedin on April 5, 2018. *

Bolton Wanderers Bolton Wanderers Football Club () is a professional football club based in Horwich, Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in . The club played at Burnden Park for 102 years from 1895 after moving from their original home at Pik ...

fans started doing it in 2022 to show support for their new Icelandic striker

Jón Daði Böðvarsson Jón Daði Böðvarsson ( transliterated as Jon Dadi Bodvarsson; born 25 May 1992) is an Icelandic professional footballer who plays as a right winger or a striker for League One club Bolton Wanderers and the Iceland national team. Jón Da� ...

. * Kerala Blasters fans began using the Viking clap since 2017 after its popularity reached in India.

References

External links

YouTube - Iceland throws epic homecoming party for Euro 2016 team
{{Iceland national football team Association football culture UEFA Euro 2016 2018 FIFA World Cup Motherwell F.C. Iceland national football team Viking Age in popular culture