Sixty-four football fans will form an ‘FA Cup Fans choir’ and sing Abide With Me prior to this season’s FA Cup Final at Wembley Stadium connected by EE.

The lucky supporters are the winners of a Songs of Praise competition with each fan representing one of the 64 teams who it to the third round of this year’s competition.

The choir will be mixed and also include a wide spectrum of ages with the youngest participant in their early twenties while the most senior has celebrated their 100^th birthday!

 The choir joins with The Band of The Brigade of Gurkhas in front of 90,000 people on Saturday 30 May.

Songs of Praise, who teamed up with BBC Sport as part of their FA Cup programming, asked for people to submit stories that reflect their personal memories and passion of the cup from every level of the game.

The winning tales - selected by a panel of judges from the worlds of football, music and journalism – are a combination of amusing and moving stories which capture the spirit of the FA Cup and have a strong thread of family, community and tradition throughout.

Over 1,300 people applied to take part in the unique experience to sing ‘Abide With Me’ which, since it was first sung at the FA Cup Final in 1927, has become a constant fixture. In recent years, a celebrity solo singer has performed the song and this year the fans choir will join them on the football pitch.

They will be led by international music producer and Songs of Praise conductor Steve Thompson, who is also a life-long fan of the FA Cup.

No singing experience was necessary to apply for the competition; those selected to perform the hymn at the FA Cup Final will now be able to practise singing ahead of the event with an online lesson which will be available on the Songs of Praise website shortly.

All the winners will also meet each other for the first time at Wembley the day before the final, where they will practice singing together.

Aaqil Ahmed, Head of Commissioning – Religion, TV and Head of Religion & Ethics, said:  “We’ve had a great response to the competition which has really sparked the interest of those who have a passion for football.

"We wanted to make the competition open to anyone to apply hence why no singing experience was necessary. The concept was to involve the whole football family and to find the emotional and personal connection between football and singing.

"It truly is a once in a life-time opportunity to perform at the FA Cup Final and for two members of the choir, whose clubs will be playing in the final, it’s the stuff dreams are made of.”