Football fans to star in opera created by Grange Park and Sky Arts

Sky Arts and Grange Park Opera are collaborating on an opera about football corruption, which will be staged to coincide with the 2022 World Cup and will feature a chorus of "football fans turned opera singers".

Later this year, Grange Park Opera in Surrey will host the premiere performances of Gods of the Game: A Football Opera, directed by Young Vic artistic director Kwame Kwei-Armah.

In-person performances will take place in October and the opera will be broadcast on Sky Arts and Now TV soon after.

Described as a "celebration and condemnation" of football that explores bribery and corruption in the sport, the 90-minute piece will be sung in English and include "snippets" of famous arias throughout the score. It will also feature a "footy-fan chorus" of singers who will be given a crash course in singing before performing a specially composed piece at a UK football stadium.

Footage of the fans will be played on stage as part of the opera, which opens on October 6 ahead of the November World Cup in Qatar.

Phil Edgar-Jones, director of Sky Arts and Entertainment, said: "One of our aims at Sky Arts is to move beyond TV from time to time and help create work that lives in the real world, so we’re really excited to bring this brilliant idea to the stage with Grange Park Opera, Factory Films and Kwame Kwei-Armah. Football is laced with all the drama you need for operatic treatment – heroes, villains, rivalry, joy, despair – it’s all there and beautifully captured in Gods of the Game."

Kwei-Armah described opera and football as a "marriage made in heaven", while Grange Park Opera chief executive Wasfi Kani said: "I’ve never watched a football match, now is the time to expand my horizons. I do understand the off-side rule but, at the end of the day, I need to brush up on my football clichés.”

Gods of the Game is written by Julian Philips, Aran O’Grady, Ábel MGE, Blasio Kavuma and Lucy Armstrong, with words by Phil Porter. It is produced by Factory Films with Grange Park Opera for Sky Arts. Julie Heathcote will be executive producer for Factory Films.