What is ‘Links Rechts’? Iconic Dutch chant returns at the World Cup | OneFootball

Ollie Whitmore, Chief football news reporter

The Netherlands’ 2-2 draw with Japan might’ve been one of the games of the World Cup so far, but the Dutch capturing fans’ attention wasn’t just in anticipation of the football.

Just like in Hamburg when Euro 2024 was well underway, Netherlands fans have once again engrossed the football community with their iconic chant that goes by the name of Links, Rechts.

The chant is simple: standing arm-in-arm with a fellow supporter, you take five jumps to the left and then five to the right.

Links, Rechts has become one of the most iconic chants in world football since it was adopted by the Netherlands as the unofficial anthem of their loyal supporter base. But unlike most football songs, it doesn’t reference the sport at all.

So where exactly did it come from, and why left and right? FromTheSpot has the answers.

Where did Links, Rechts come from?

The song, which runs for two minutes and 40 seconds, was released by popular Dutch party act Snollebollekes in 2015. Led by comedian Rob Kemps, the name the group including DJs Jurjen Gofers and Maurice Huismans refers to their fans and not them.

It encourages fans to do the famous dance jumping to the left and right in unison, as you’ve likely seen Dutch fans doing in Hamburg during 2024 and at this year’s World Cup all over social media.

During a King’s Day performance by the group in Breda 11 years ago, videos showing thousands of their fans dancing along went viral online to kickstart the craze nationally.

The song was impactful not just on the group’s journey to becoming a household name in the Netherlands and the unofficial anthem of their football fans. Actual ground tremors were felt in homes near the performance.

Why did Dutch fans adopt it?

Links, Rechts has become so iconic as a result of fans in orange transforming the most mundane of spaces, such as streets and carparks, into flash mobs of noise and passion while performing the dance – now a symbol of their unity and national pride.

Meaning ‘left, right’ in Dutch, the song has been lauded for being able to easily whip up a party atmosphere wherever it’s played, thanks to both its conventional four beats per bar structure and Snollebollekes’ lyrical choices.

Translated from Dutch, the main lyrics read:

Welcome in the party tent, go ahead and act sillyIt’s a shame about the attic, but the roof is coming offHakken, trashing, jumping, the place is going crazy

Everyone from the left to the right, the place is getting trashedEveryone from the left to the right, the place is getting trashedEveryone from the left to the right, the place is getting trashedEveryonе from the left to the right, thе place is getting trashed

[Chorus]

To the leftTo the rightOne more timeTo the leftTo the right

No surprises were abound, then, when retired Dutch legend Clarence Seedorf was seen leading the chant before the Netherlands’ opening 2026 World Cup game against Japan, a contest that grew to be just as entertaining as Links, Rechts itself.

The vast majority of football chants are supporters’ own spins on existing songs that have engrained themselves in their country’s pop culture, which provide the melodies for them.

But rarely do the songs themselves emerge at the forefront of football fans’ presence at major tournaments without some form of parody or lyrical adjustment to suit the sport they’re watching.

Sweet Caroline may have given England fans some of their best ever memories when they serenaded the Three Lions’ achievement of reaching their first major final in Euro 2020 since 1996 at Wembley, sure.

But no song has become quite as synonymous with a country’s national team and their supporters than Links, Rechts.

The Snollebollekes hit has been one of the Netherlands’ best imports to the 2026 World Cup across the US, Canada, and Mexico, and one that will continue to bring the vibes to major tournaments for decades to come.

My only regret is that I wasn’t there to partake in the iconic dance, myself.

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