On Wednesday, Shawn Mendes revealed his hit “In My Blood” is the official anthem of Portugal’s soccer team as they head to the FIFA World Cup, which kicks off Thursday in Moscow.
Mendes, 19, proudly shared the news on Twitter, linking to the team’s video including his revamped version of the song that features him singing some of the lyrics in Portuguese.
If you’re scratching your head wondering about the connection between Mendes and Team Portugal, it’s simply that the Toronto-born pop star has Portuguese roots (his father immigrated to Canada from Portugal, from the Algarve town of Lagos).
In fact, Mendes tells Billboard that he always cheers on Team Portugal whenever they compete in the World Cup.
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“I follow Portugal and England because of my parents, who are from the two countries. In the World Cup I’m always cheering for Portugal and Cristiano Ronaldo, who is my favorite player and probably one of my biggest inspirations,” says Mendes, who also played soccer during his childhood.
Judging by the Twitter response, Portuguese soccer fans are thrilled by Mendes’ World Cup anthem.
Not everyone was happy about Mendes’ anthem, primarily fans of Team Brazil (Portuguese is also spoken in Brazil), who took to Twitter en masse to troll the singer with all manner of memes supporting their team:
