Ed Sheeran and Elton John Gift Each Other Ugly Christmas Sweaters as They Attend Soccer Game Together

Ed Sheeran and Elton John in Los Angeles in February 2013.Photo:Kevin Winter/WireImage

Kevin Winter/WireImage

Soccer is bringingEd SheeranandElton Johntogether this holiday season.

In a sweetsocial media videoposted Wednesday, the two pop superstars attended a soccer game between Ipswich Town and Watford, exchanged ugly sweaters as Christmas gifts and even burst into song.

He bought John, 76, a sweater adorned with the logo for Ipswich Town — Sheeran’s preferred team — before his bodyguard Kevin Myers asked, “Will he wear it?”

“I doubt it,” quipped the “Shape of You” singer — who then met with John, and they greeted each other with love. Coincidentally, the “Rocket Man” performer gifted Sheeran with a Watford sweater. “Just what I wanted,” he joked.

Sporting their jumpers, the pair sat together, watched the game and even sang John’s “Your Song” when the hit track played in the stadium, according to the video.

Elton John and Ed Sheeran.Kevin Mazur/WireImage

The musicians each cheered for their preferred teams, though Ipswich Town ended up winning 2-1 over Watford. “Love you, man,” Sheeran told John as the game’s final score was reached.

At the end of the video, both performers encouraged viewers to listen to their 2021 duet, “Merry Christmas.”

“‘Merry Christmas’ is out, so go and stream it, and I love you,” said Sheeran, before singing lyrics from the song as he sipped a glass of red wine.

Upon the initial release of “Merry Christmas,” Sheeran opened up about how John convinced him to collaborate on a holiday song during an appearance onThe Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.

“I’ve always been quite against… not that I don’t like Christmas, I love Christmas. But in terms of doing a Christmas song, you need to chuck the kitchen sink at it,” said Sheeran.

He continued with a laugh, “I have a Northern Irish friend that says, ‘If you’re gonna get done for stealing a horse, you might as well f— it,’ you know?”

Elton John; Ed Sheeran.Dave Benett/Getty Images for Macmillan; Cindy Ord/Getty Images for SiriusXM

John is no stranger to holiday music, having released his own 1973 hit, “Step Into Christmas,” the success of which Sheeran cited with partially inspiring “Merry Christmas.”

“I think it went in at 13 in the ’80s, and it was like No. 6 last year in England, so he’s like, ‘I want to do another Christmas song, do you want to do one with me?'” he told Fallon. “[John] rung me on Christmas Day … ‘cause he was so buzzed that ‘Step Into Christmas’ gets a higher chart position every single year.”

Of course, given Sheeran’s previous stance against Christmas music, he told John that if he were to take on the project, he wanted to give it his absolute all: “I said to Elton, I was like, ‘I don’t really want to do a Christmas song unless we’re going in. Unless it’s like sleigh bells, ding-dong, yeah, it needs to be a proper Christmas song.'”

Under these conditions, the two began to write. “I wrote a chorus, and then I went to go and stay with him, and we wrote three, and one of them was this one called ‘Merry Christmas,'” said Sheeran. Surprisingly, the name seemed to stick.

“So get this. So we write it, and I title it ‘Merry Christmas,’ and I’m like, ‘We’re going to have to change that title, ‘cause there’s probably loads of songs called ‘Merry Christmas,'” said Sheeran.

“I went on Spotify, and I typed in ‘Merry Christmas,’ nothing. There’s ‘Merry Christmas, Everyone,’ there’s ‘Happy Xmas,’ there’s ‘Merry Xmas,’ there’s ‘War Is Over,’ [but] there’s not a song called ‘Merry Christmas.'”

source: people.com