"Skol, Vikings" (IPA: , ) 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. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) North division. Founded in 1960 as an expansio ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ma ...

. 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, United States and a first-ring suburb of Minneapolis. The population was 53,494 at the 2020 census, making it the 18th most populous city in Minnesota. Edina began as a small farming and mil ...

. 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 ente ...

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.

Meaning

''Skol'' (written "skål" in Danish, Norwegian, and Swedish and "skál" in Faroese and Icelandic or "skaal" in archaic spellings or transliteration of any of those languages) is the

Danish Danish may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Denmark People * A national or citizen of Denmark, also called a "Dane," see Demographics of Denmark * Culture of Denmark * Danish people or Danes, people with a Danish ance ...

Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe * Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway * Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including ...

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used b ...

- Icelandic- Faroese word for "cheers", or "good health", a salute or a toast, as to an admired person or group.

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 clap to the beat of a drum before yelling, "Skol!" It was borrowed from the "Viking war chant" made famous by supporters of the

Iceland national football team The Iceland national football team (in ) 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 an UEFA member since 19 ...

during their Cinderella run at

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 football championship of Europe ...

. The Vikings joined up with Iceland’s

Aron Gunnarsson Aron Einar Malmquist Gunnarsson (born 22 April 1989) is an Icelandic professional footballer who plays for Al-Arabi and captains the Icelandic national team. He can play either as a defensive midfielder or a central midfielder. He began his c ...

and Iceland native

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 ...

to introduce the chant. In turn, Iceland's supporters borrowed it from Scotland's

Motherwell F.C. Motherwell Football Club is a Scottish professional association football, football club based in Motherwell, North Lanarkshire, which plays in the Scottish Premiership. Motherwell have not dropped out of the top-flight of Scottish football sinc ...

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, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Tw ...

. 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 National Football League fight songs Minnesota Vikings