Swiss Collector Puts 1,400 Football Vinyl Records Online

Swiss collector Pascal Claude has published more than 1,400 vinyl records devoted to football on a freely accessible website. The archive gathers club anthems from numerous countries, World Cup themes, players' stories and recordings by national teams — all digitised from Claude's personal collection of seven-inch discs.

Claude began uploading files in July 2012 and still adds new singles every week. The collector said he accepts suggestions for new records and additional information about the works already on the page, which makes the archive a collaborative project rather than a closed catalogue.

Who holds the rights?

The copyright question hangs over the whole enterprise, and Claude addresses it directly. He said it is impossible to control all permissions, given the sheer number of discs and the fact that most of the record labels behind them no longer exist. His solution is a takedown notice: rights holders who want a track removed are asked to contact him. He has not said whether any removal requests have arrived, or how many — a gap worth noting before treating the archive as permanently stable.

What does the visitor actually find?

The site's search system lets users filter contents by country. The Brazilian catalogue lists 44 discs. Among them is the vinyl "Seleção de ouro", released after Brazil's third world title in 1970.

That record carries the traces of the tournament itself. Side A offers a thank-you to Mexico and to the city of Guadalajara, where the Brazilian squad played five of its six matches. Side B pays tribute to the fans. Beyond the audio, the site also displays the record sleeves, so users can examine the cover art as well as listen.

What does this change for football's musical history?

For researchers, fans and curators, the value is concrete: recordings scattered across decades and defunct labels are now searchable in one place, with new material arriving weekly. The caveat is ownership — the archive exists at the discretion of rights holders who have not yet been traced, and Claude's own admission that permissions cannot be fully verified means parts of it could disappear as quickly as they appeared.