An interview with Rafał Wojewódzki - AC
Milan supporter from Poland and founder of CurvaMood, an independent fan music
project.
Listen to CurvaMood
San Siro Canta: YouTube
music video · Spotify
Rosso e Nero — La Storia
del Milan: YouTube
music video · Spotify
More songs: CurvaMood YouTube playlist
1.Soccernostalgia Question: Can you introduce
yourself and describe how you became interested in football?
Rafał Wojewódzki Response: My
name is Rafał Wojewódzki. I’m from Poland, and I created CurvaMood, a music
project that grew out of my passion for Milan.
My connection with the
club began at a friend’s house, playing a football game on his Amiga. I must
have been eight or nine years old. This was back when a footballer on the
screen looked more like a square than a person! I can’t remember the exact
game, but I remember choosing Milan.
At first, it was a team
on a screen and the excitement of playing. Then I started watching real
matches, getting to know the players and following the results. Eventually,
Milan stopped being just the team I selected in a game. It became my club.
Today, I try to tell the story of that connection through music as well.
2.Soccernostalgia Question: Can you describe your
earliest memories of AC Milan and how your passion for the club started?
Rafał Wojewódzki Response: One
of my strongest memories is the 1994 final against Barcelona in Athens. It was
supposed to be a very difficult match for Milan, and then they won 4–0. For a
young supporter, that was incredible. You watch a match like that once, and it
stays with you for the rest of your life.
Then came George Weah:
the Ballon d’Or and that unforgettable run against Verona. Those were the
moments that made me want to watch the next match and see what these players
would do.
But I remember the
disappointments too. Milan going out of the Champions League group with Porto,
Rosenborg and IFK Göteborg in 1996/97, for example. I was convinced they would
get through, and suddenly it was over. As a child, I found that hard to accept.
I think that attachment
was built through all those memories: beautiful goals and victories, but also
evenings that left you disappointed.
3-Soccernostalgia Question: How important was the
culture of Italian football in Poland?
Rafał Wojewódzki Response: When
I was growing up, Italian football had a huge appeal. Serie A meant great clubs
and players you wanted to watch. Milan mattered most to me, but you knew the
players at the other Italian clubs too.
There weren’t nearly as
many matches on television as there are today. You watched almost every game
you could, especially the Champions League and the World Cup. Those teams and
names really stayed in your memory.
In 1994, Milan won the
Champions League, while Italy reached the World Cup final against Brazil and
lost on penalties. Baresi, Maldini, Baggio — those players were hard to forget.
Everyone seemed to know them.
I wouldn’t want to speak
for every supporter in Poland, but for me, Italian football was this great
world I discovered through television. Milan became my place within it.
4-Soccernostalgia Question: How did your support for
AC Milan evolve as you became older, and did you explore the club’s history
more deeply?
Rafał Wojewódzki Response: At
first, it was about goals, players and wanting Milan to win. As a child, you
almost assume your club should always be the best. Later, you learn that
supporting a team also means living through seasons when very little goes
right.
I remember how much hope
Shevchenko’s arrival in 1999 gave me. After a difficult period, here was a
player who made you look forward to every match. I also became more interested
in what had happened before my own earliest memories: the teams and people who
had built the club.
Franco Baresi’s farewell
match in 1997, with Milan playing a team of world stars, really stayed with me.
Back then, we were saying goodbye to him as a player at the end of his career.
When we had to say our final goodbye to him this year, that earlier memory came
back too. It felt as though part of the world I had grown up with was leaving.
Today, I see much more
behind the names and results. There are also my own family memories now. Milan
has been with me at different stages of life, so naturally, the way I support
the club has changed.
5-Soccernostalgia Question: Describe your first visit
to San Siro and the emotions of visiting a place you had previously only seen
on television.
Rafał Wojewódzki Response: My
first trip to San Siro was a gift from my wife for my thirtieth birthday. It is
still one of the best presents I’ve ever received.
First, you see the
stadium from outside. You know it’s big because you’ve seen it so many times,
but only when you stand beside it do you understand the scale. Then you walk
inside, see the pitch and the stands, and there’s this enormous “wow”. You
really can be lost for words.
My wife doesn’t normally
watch football. When she saw the stadium from inside, she said, in Polish, “Ale
zajebiście!” — roughly, “This is fucking amazing!” I don’t think I could
describe that first impression any better.
It was similar when I
later took the children. You can tell someone about it and show them
photographs, but it’s difficult to imagine until you actually walk in. Seeing
their amazement brought back my own first experience.
Then there’s the museum,
the history and the memorabilia. You can spend so much time taking it all in.
The one perspective I still want to experience is the view from the roof.
6-Soccernostalgia Question: Describe your passion for
music and how it led you to found your own independent fan project, CurvaMood.
Rafał Wojewódzki Response: I’ve
had two great passions in life: Milan in football and Queen in music. I wanted
to be close to one of those worlds, but I didn’t become a professional
footballer or a singer. Buying Milan wasn’t exactly an option either!
At some point, I thought
perhaps I could bring those two loves together in my own way. Before one of my
trips to San Siro, the idea for “We Are the Champions — AC Milan Edition” took
shape. My favourite song and my favourite club. That was the beginning of what
became CurvaMood.
Other ideas followed:
players, matches, the club’s history and the emotions of its supporters. AI
tools allowed me to give those ideas a musical form. It began with curiosity
and the excitement of being able to make something like this at all, and developed
into a project I give more and more attention to.
CurvaMood is an
independent fan project. It isn’t an official collaboration with Queen or AC
Milan. It simply grew out of my love for both.
7-Soccernostalgia Question: What makes the connection
between music and football so special for you?
Rafał Wojewódzki Response: Music
can bring an emotion back instantly. You hear a few notes and remember a
particular moment, person or place. Football works in a similar way. Someone
mentions a match, and suddenly you remember where you were sitting and how you
felt during the final minutes.
In a stadium, those two
things come together in an extraordinary way. Thousands of people, many of whom
have never met, start singing together. Suddenly, they share the same rhythm
and words. That really moves me, just as the crowd singing together at Queen
concerts does.
Music can also help you
feel closer to a club when you live far away. I can’t attend every match in
Milan, but I can put on a song and feel something of that atmosphere again.
And when my child picks
up a chorus, or someone from another country writes that they feel exactly the
same, the music starts connecting our stories.
8-Soccernostalgia Question: Explain your process of
creating Italian-language AC Milan fan songs using AI tools for CurvaMood.
Rafał Wojewódzki Response: It
starts with something that moves me: a memory of a player, a particular match
or an emotion I can’t get out of my head. I think about what I want to say and
what kind of song it should be. Something people can sing together? Something
more emotional? Or something bold and full of energy?
Then I work on the lyrics
and look for the right musical approach, using AI tools including Suno.
Different versions emerge, and I listen, compare and return to them with
changes. The first version is rarely the right one. Sometimes something looks
great on paper but doesn’t work when sung. Other times, a chorus stays in my
head immediately, and I know it’s worth developing.
Italian feels like a
natural choice for songs about Milan, but as a Polish person, I have to pay
particular attention to the meaning and how the words sound. I want the lyrics
to be singable and for a supporter to recognise their own feelings in them.
I’m open about using AI.
I’m not the singer you hear on these recordings. The tools allow me to give
musical form to ideas that might otherwise have stayed in my head. But in the
end, there’s a very ordinary question: does this song move me, and do I want to
play it again?
9-Soccernostalgia Question: Did any traditional AC
Milan songs from the stands inspire the project?
Rafał Wojewódzki Response: Definitely.
“Forza Diavolo Alè” and “Sarà perché ti amo”, also sung by supporters as “Sarà
perché tifiamo” — I have always listened to them and hummed along. They
inspired me long before CurvaMood existed. Those melodies stay with you.
What moves me most is the
power of singing together. When an entire stadium sings one chorus, you can get
goosebumps even if you’ve known it for years. Sometimes a few simple words are
enough to express everything a supporter feels about the club.
I would love some of that
energy to come through in my songs: a chorus you can quickly pick up and sing
together, whether you’re in the stadium, in the car or watching a match at
home.
But not every song has to
get the whole crowd going. Sometimes I want to tell a story or return to a
memory, and that calls for something quieter and more personal. Supporting a
club has room for both.
10-Soccernostalgia Question: How has the creative
process of CurvaMood evolved as the project has developed?
Rafał Wojewódzki Response: At
first, the biggest feeling was simply “wow” — that I could turn an idea into a
song at all. That alone gave me enormous enjoyment.
Over time, I’ve become
more demanding about the result. Once that first excitement settles, you start
hearing things: the lyrics don’t quite fit the melody, the chorus could be
stronger, or a song starts well but loses something along the way. I go back to
ideas more often now and reject versions I probably would have kept earlier.
Listeners give me a huge
amount of motivation. When someone writes, “They should sing this before a
match”, “The players need to hear this”, or even “This should be Milan’s
anthem”, it genuinely warms my heart. Someone has listened and imagined that
song at San Siro. As a supporter, that’s a wonderful compliment.
Messages like those make
me want to keep improving, both the music and the videos. I still have a lot to
learn, but I want people to hear and see that progress in each new production.
11-Soccernostalgia Question: Can you name some of the
songs you have created and explain the inspiration behind them?
Rafał Wojewódzki Response: I
would start with “We Are the Champions — AC Milan Edition” and its Italian
counterpart, “Siamo i Campioni, Siamo il Milan”. The inspiration was
very personal: my favourite song, my favourite band and my favourite club.
Queen and Milan — to me, both are champions. I wanted to imagine those two
worlds coming together in red and black.
Then there is “Rosso e
Nero — La Storia del Milan”. I wanted to tell the club’s wonderful history,
but quickly realised that you cannot fit more than 120 years into one song. So
a second followed: “Rosso e Nero — La Storia Continua”. Even together, they
only cover a small part of that history, but they bring in many important
people and moments. For older supporters, they might bring back memories; for
younger ones, perhaps they offer a reason to discover more.
“Caro
Maldini, non eri solo un capitano” is my way of remembering the defender I
watched when I was young. The same personal connection is behind “Da Monrovia
a San Siro — George Weah” and “Sheva — Uno
di Noi”. The inspiration is the players themselves: their style, their
goals and how I felt watching them. With Shevchenko, one memory that
immediately comes back is the final against Juventus and his decisive penalty.
“Atene 1994
— Il sogno era nostro” takes me back to the final against Barcelona. Some
matches stay with you for life, and this was my way of returning to that joy.
But the songs don’t all
come from victories. “Sempre Con Noi” grew out of the 3–0 defeat to Udinese.
There is an image of three wounds in the song, but also that attachment which
remains despite the disappointment. “Caro Franco
— Il Sei Dentro” is different again. After saying goodbye to Baresi, I
wanted to create something like a musical letter to someone who had been part
of my childhood.
“Finché avrò
voce” is about that everyday loyalty to the club: as long as I have a
voice, I will sing for you. Results change, players come and go, but you’re
still there.
And “San Siro
Canta” was made with singing together in mind, inspired by the chants I’ve
hummed for years. Whenever I imagine people singing that chorus together at San
Siro, it makes me smile.
12-Soccernostalgia Question: Can you describe the
context of the photographs showing memories of your visits to San Siro?
Rafał Wojewódzki Response: The
photographs show different parts of the same story. The picture with my wife
captures one of our visits to San Siro. She gave me my first trip for my
thirtieth birthday, so the stadium has always been connected with a very
personal memory too.
The photograph beside the
Freddie Mercury figure shows the other side of the story: my love of Queen.
That’s why it belongs in the selection, even though it isn’t a stadium
photograph. Without that musical passion, CurvaMood probably wouldn’t exist in
its present form.
There are also pictures
of the T-shirts and of us wearing them at San Siro. It was lovely to take
something that had started as an idea at home into that setting. Suddenly,
you’re wearing it outside the stadium or in the stands, thinking: we actually
did it, we’re here.
And the family
photographs show that this story stopped being mine alone a long time ago. The
children have their own memories of Milan now, rather than just Dad’s stories
about old matches. That’s why these pictures mean more to me than simply
recording a trip.
Rafał and his wife at San
Siro. His first visit to the stadium was her gift for his thirtieth birthday.
Rafał beside a figure of
Freddie Mercury. His love of Queen was one of the inspirations behind
CurvaMood.
Rafał outside San Siro,
wearing a T-shirt featuring his own fan design.
San Siro from outside — a stadium familiar from years of television, but
even more impressive in person.
An original fan T-shirt
design taken into the stands at San Siro.
The “We Are the
Champions” T-shirt, bringing together Rafał’s two passions: Queen and AC Milan.
Family memories at San
Siro, wearing T-shirts featuring their own fan designs.
The next generation of Rossoneri, building their own memories of Milan
and San Siro.
Photographs: personal
archive of Rafał Wojewódzki / CurvaMood.
13-Soccernostalgia Question: Have you interacted with
other AC Milan supporters through the project?
Rafał Wojewódzki Response: Yes,
and that’s one of the best things CurvaMood has brought into my life. You start
by making a song because it means something to you, and then someone from a
completely different country gets in touch and feels exactly the same.
I enjoy those
conversations in the comments. Someone remembers a player; someone else
describes a match that stayed with them. Sometimes we ask which city people
support Milan from, and the answers show how far this community reaches. I know
very well what it means to support the club from a distance.
Those connections can
also become collaborations. We met Emiliano from Italy, and we already have our
first shared materials. You could call him our Italian voice. It makes me happy
that a project I started in Poland has connected us through the same passion.
This interview is another
example of a meeting that happened because of CurvaMood. Beyond making music,
I’m getting to know people with whom I immediately have something to talk
about.
14-Soccernostalgia Question: Are there plans to create
more songs?
Rafał Wojewódzki Response: Definitely.
More songs are already waiting for their premieres, and I still have plenty of
ideas.
I have high hopes for “Lo
sai dove sei”. It has a slightly provocative, stadium atmosphere. The
opposition arrives at San Siro and gets a reminder: do you know where you are?
You’re facing Milan, so you need to take us seriously. I wanted to capture that
pride and the atmosphere supporters can create before the first whistle.
There is also a project
involving songs in other languages, aimed at supporters in different countries.
I know what it’s like to spend years seeing San Siro on television and dreaming
of going there. I want to tell stories about people who love Milan from far
away and then, one day, actually find themselves standing outside the stadium.
Suddenly, the place they only knew from a screen is right in front of them.
I’ve experienced that
myself, and I know how much it can mean when that dream comes true. I hope
those songs will also connect with someone who is still planning their first
visit.
15-Soccernostalgia Question: With the planned move to
a new stadium around 2031, do you intend to visit San Siro again in the near
future?
Rafał Wojewódzki Response: Yes,
I will definitely return. I go to San Siro once or twice a year, and every
visit still makes an impression on me.
I actually have three
goals connected with the stadium. The first is the simplest: to see it from the
roof. I haven’t done that yet, and I really want to experience that
perspective.
The second is to hear
supporters sing at least one of my songs there, before or during a match.
Sometimes I try to imagine that moment. I think I would struggle to get a word
out.
And the third? A
CurvaMood concert at San Siro, for Milan supporters, with a full stadium. Yes,
I know how big that dream is. But if I’m going to say what I would love to
achieve, that’s it.
The plans for the
stadium’s future make me feel that these dreams can’t be postponed forever.
There is a great deal of work ahead, but I deeply believe I can achieve that
goal. Once, I dreamed of simply walking into San Siro. Today, I visit with my
family and make music about Milan. I want to see how far I can take this.
16-Soccernostalgia Question: In closing, how important
has CurvaMood become to your continuing passion for AC Milan?
Rafał Wojewódzki Response: Very
important. With every new song, I feel my attachment to the club growing
stronger. There used to be periods when Milan moved a little into the
background. Now, I watch every match, and if I really can’t, I at least follow
the score. I’m always somewhere close to the team.
Milan is with me every
day now, just like my family. I might be watching a match, working on a song,
reading comments or returning to a memory. That passion has become an even
bigger part of my life.
While working on songs, I
sometimes feel like the boy who watched Milan and wanted to tell everyone about
it the next day. Except now I can share it with my own children. They already
have their favourite players and their own memories.
CurvaMood has also
brought me new friendships, plans and the courage to try something I couldn’t
do before. And when someone writes, “That’s exactly how I feel about my Milan”,
it gives me enormous satisfaction. It began with my memories, but someone on the
other side of the world finds a piece of their own life in them.
