"Skol Vikings" () is the

fight song A fight song is a rousing short song associated with a sports team. The term is most common in the United States and Canada. In Australia, Mexico, and New Zealand, these songs are called the team anthem, team song, or games song. First associated ...

of the

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

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

. It was introduced around the time the team was founded in 1961. The words and music are attributed to James "Red" McLeod, a composer from

Edina, Minnesota Edina ( , ) is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States and a first-ring suburb of Minneapolis. The population was 53,494 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the 18th most populous ci ...

. The word ''skol'' is an anglicization of the Swedish, Danish, and Norwegian ''skål'', meaning "cheers!" The old recording is usually played whenever the team scores, accompanied by

cheerleader Cheerleading is an activity in which the participants (called cheerleaders) cheer for their team as a form of encouragement. It can range from chanting slogans to intense physical activity. It can be performed to motivate sports teams, to ent ...

s carrying flags that spell out the team's name, as in the lyrics. It is also played at the end of the game, after a victory.

Skol Chant

When the Vikings moved into

U.S. Bank Stadium U.S. Bank Stadium is an enclosed stadium located in downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota. Built on the former site of the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome, the indoor stadium opened in 2016 and is the home of the Minnesota Vikings of the National Footbal ...

in 2016, they started a new tradition at home games, called the "Skol Chant". At various points during the game, Viking fans raise their hands and after two beats of a drum, they clap in time and yell, "Skol!" The drum beats increase in tempo until the applause is near-constant. The chant is a copy of the "Viking war chant" made famous by supporters of the

Iceland national football team The Iceland national football team () represents Iceland in men's international Association football, football. The team is controlled by the Football Association of Iceland, and have been a FIFA member since 1947 and a UEFA member since 1957. ...

during their run to the quarter-finals of

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 association football, football ch ...

. The Vikings joined up with Iceland midfielder

Aron Gunnarsson Aron Einar Malmquist Gunnarsson (born 22 April 1989) is an Icelandic professional Association football, footballer who plays for Qatar Stars League club Al-Gharafa SC, Al-Gharafa and the Iceland national football team, Iceland national team. He ...

and strongman

Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson (; transliterated as Hafthor in English; born 26 November 1988) is an Icelandic professional strongman who is widely regarded as one of the greatest strength athletes of all time. He is the first and only person t ...

to introduce the chant. Iceland supporters are believed to have started the chant after it was performed by fans of

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

during a

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (UEL), usually known simply as the Europa League, is an annual association football, football club competition organised since 1971 by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European footb ...

match between Motherwell and Icelandic club

Stjarnan Ungmennafélagið Stjarnan (, ), commonly known as Stjarnan (), is an Icelandic multi-sports club specialising in handball, football, basketball, volleyball and gymnastics located in Garðabær. Basketball Men's basketball As of the 2017–2 ...

in July 2014, although there is evidence of fans of both

RC Lens Racing Club de Lens (), commonly referred to as RC Lens or simply as Lens, is a French professional football club based in the northern city of Lens in the department of Pas-de-Calais. The club's nickname, ''Les Sang et Or'' (), comes from i ...

and

Middlesbrough F.C. Middlesbrough Football Club ( ) is a professional association football club based in Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system. Nicknamed the Boro, they were fo ...

doing the same in 2013.

Gophers and Minnesota Rouser

The spelling-out of the team name echoes the style of the "

Minnesota Rouser The "Minnesota Rouser" is the fight song of the University of Minnesota. It is played at all Minnesota Golden Gophers games. Lyrics The phrase 'Ski-U-Mah' was part of an early cheer for the U of M. Gopher fans traditionally thrust their fists ...

", the fight song of the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota Twin Cities (historically known as University of Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint ...

. Many of the University of Minnesota's fight songs were also written and/or arranged by McLeod. To honor this connection, the university pep bands often perform a rendition of the song, retitled "Skol, Gophers", with "G-O-P-H-E-R-S" replacing the spell-out and sometimes other specific sport-related changes.

References

External links

"Skol Vikings" lyrics"Skol Vikings" audio
{{Minnesota Vikings 1961 songs NFL fight songs Minnesota Vikings