It's coming home: Three Lions song re-released for Christmas

Could the World Cup be coming home for Christmas? The famous football song Three Lions, with festive lyrics, has been re-released ahead of the tournament.

Originally released for the European Championships in England back in 1996, the song has gone on to become one of the most popular anthems among England supporters

Now named Three Lions (It's Coming Home For Christmas) it also mentions the England's Lionesses winning the Women's Euros back in July.

The England football badge famously features three lions, the new song includes the lyric: "Three lions on a sleigh"

Lyrics in the updated song also mention the World Cup being held in Qatar - where there has been a lot of controversy surrounding the country's hosting of the tournament.

The new lyrics include the lines: "When they decided on Qatar. Should have checked VAR.

"It's too hot and too far."

The music video for the song begins with the Lionesses singing "it's coming home" during a press conference with manager Sarina Wiegman following their Euros win in the summer.

Later lines include: "Loving that Lionesses win".

Also in the video, Lionesses Jess Carter and Beth England make an appearance, as does famous England striker and World Cup winner, Sir Geoff Hurst.

And while the original song in 1996 referenced the number of years since England's men's team last won the World Cup in 1966 - having not won a major tournament since - the updated version goes: "56 years of hurt (for the men's game)".

Comedians David Baddiel and Frank Skinner, wrote the original and new version of the song with Ian Broudie a musician from the band The Lightening Seeds.

The trio all feature together in the new music video, which has been spliced together with the original 1996 version - that features younger versions of themselves.

"At last it's between me and Mariah Carey for who really is the voice of Christmas," comedian David Baddiel joked.

While his comedy partner, Frank Skinner added: "We just had to do it.

"If we'd let this opportunity pull away, it would have been a very long wait for the next one."

Three Lions is the only song to have reached the UK number one spot four times with the same artists, most recently during the 2018 World Cup where, thanks to its popularity online, it made history by jumping 23 places in a week to number one.