England supporters to join in with the French national anthem at Wembley: Here’s your guide to the ‘La Marseillaise’

England host France at Wembley in a friendly encounter on Tuesday night
The FA hope the French national anthem will be sung by all of the fans
‘La Marseillaise’ will be shown on the big screens so all fans can join in

Published:
15:35 GMT, 16 November 2015

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Updated:
16:01 GMT, 16 November 2015

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The lyrics of the French national anthem, ‘La Marseillaise’, will be displayed on Wembley’s big screens on Tuesday night, so that both French and English supporters can join in the singing.

Wembley’s giant arch will shine in red, white and blue, while the French flag and national slogan of ‘Liberte, Egalite, Fraternite’ will be shown displayed on LED screens on Wembley Way.

There will be a minute’s silence before kick-off and both teams will wear black armbands to remember the 129 people killed in Friday’s attacks.

The words of the French national anthem will be on screens at Wembley on Tuesday for fans to sing along

Scared spectators gathered on the pitch of the Stade de France on Friday following France vs Germany

The FA pre-empted fans’ chief Malcolm Clarke’s request for the words of ‘La Marseillaise’ to be distributed at Wembley.

And the ruling body are very confident there will be maximum respect from the crowd for the French song following the terrorist atrocity in Paris.

An FA spokesman said: ‘We have no concerns in the circumstances about a Wembley crowd behaving in the right way. They will be very respectful.’

Clarke said: ‘I will be extremely disappointed if there is any booing during the singing of ‘La Marseillaise’.

‘It will certainly help if the words are on display. But it only needs a few idiots to ruin the moment for everybody.

‘I hope everyone behaves after what happened in Paris, but we’ll see.

The anthem was penned in 1792 by Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle in Strasbourg after the declaration of war by France against Austria.

Originally titled ‘Chant de guerre pour l’Armée du Rhin’ (meaning ‘Battle Hymn of the Army of the Rhine’), it was a revolutionary song and an anthem to freedom.

The French National Convention adopted it as the Republic’s anthem in 1795 and acquired the name ‘La Marseillaise’ having been sung in Paris by volunteers from Marseille marching on the capital city.