The Football Match Wham! Watched When Last Christmas was Written
The match Wham! were watching when the song Last Christmas was written was a Division One game between Luton Town and Manchester United on Sunday, 12 February 1984. The match ended 0-5 in favor of Manchester United and was broadcast live on ITV with a 2:35 pm kickoff, marking the only live Sunday game of that era.
George Michael wrote most of Last Christmas in February 1984 in his childhood bedroom. Andrew Ridgeley recalled hearing the melody after George went upstairs while their parents watched football downstairs. Ridgeley later described that they were killing time on a Sunday and that Michael grabbed a four-track tape recorder to capture the melody as it formed.
Despite its popularity, Last Christmas did not reach Christmas No. 1 until 2023, having been blocked at the top in 1984 by Band Aid’s Do They Know It’s Christmas.
The article also noted a football statistic: about 30 of the 70 European Cup/Champions League winners were top of their domestic league at Christmas, with teams like Real Madrid and Liverpool among those that achieved this status while going on to win Europe.
