The Football Match That Inspired Wham!'s Last Christmas and Other Holiday Football Insights
Wham!'s iconic song "Last Christmas" was written in February 1984 in George Michael's childhood bedroom. Andrew Ridgeley recalls that the melody came to George Michael while they were at home on a Sunday, as Ridgeley and the singer's parents watched football downstairs.
The football match believed to have inspired the song took place on Sunday, 12 February 1984. It was a Division One game where Manchester United defeated Luton Town 5-0. This match was broadcast live by ITV's The Big Match, the only live Sunday game in that era. The scorers for Manchester United were Bryan Robson (2), Norman Whiteside (2), and Frank Stapleton (1).
Despite the song's lasting popularity, "Last Christmas" did not top the Christmas charts until 2023, having been blocked in 1984 by Band Aid's "Do They Know It's Christmas."
Looking more broadly at football during the Christmas season, around 30 out of 70 European Cup/Champions League winners have been top of their domestic league at Christmas. Examples include Manchester United in 1967-68 and Liverpool in 1980-81, 1983-84, and 2018-19.
Historically, full sets of Christmas Day football fixtures were once more common in Britain. Scotland last had a complete set on Christmas Day in 1971, and England last had theirs in 1959, with occasional notes about Christmas fixtures from those eras.
A glimpse into footballers' Christmas gifts shows unique presents from 1998 at Newcastle United: Alessandro Pistone received a sheep's heart, Temuri Ketsbaia was given a hairbrush, and Duncan Ferguson a prison shirt.
