Heartwarming WVU sports tradition goes viral at the 2026 World Cup

Recently, the West Virginia tradition of fans singing the team's unofficial theme song, "Take Me Home, Country Roads," has been going viral after the rabid WVU fan base was put on national display as the Mountaineers hosted the Regional Round and Super Regional Round of the NCAA Baseball Tournament. But Mountaineer Nation have not been the only ones to shine a spotlight on the song this month.

It just so happens that the United States of America, alongside Mexico and Canada, are currently hosting the 2026 FIFA World Cup, bringing millions of soccer fans from across the globe to North America, as well as 48 national soccer teams. And soccer fans are just as notorious as West Virginia sports fans for their propensity to celebrate with song.

'Country Roads' sung multiple times so far at World Cup

The Country Roads craze began last weekend, as the Tartan Army – the nickname designated for the fan base of the Scotland national team – showed up to support their team at Fenway Park in Boston, leading to the fans serenading their team with the iconic John Denver song. Scotland inheriting the song as their own is fitting, given the Scotch-Irish heritage based in West Virginia.

Then, on Friday, the USA moved to 2-0 in group play during the World Cup with a victory over Australia, and the sold out crowd in Seattle decided to celebrate like Mountaineers, with the entire stadium erupting afterwards to sing "Take Me Home, Country Roads."

West Virginians everywhere quickly took notice of the Seattle rendition, bringing attention to it on social media. Perhaps the World Cup should have chose Milan Puskar Stadium to host some of the US team's games, to really drive home the experience.

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