Nelly Furtado's "Forca" has been selected as the official theme for Euro 2004 soccer championship.

The song, which is included on her latest album, "Folklore," was commissioned specifically for the July 4 game in Oporto, Portugal.

The Canadian singer of Portuguese heritage was asked to write the song for the 16-nation tournament when she was working on the follow-up to her multi-platinum breakthrough debut, "Whoa, Nelly!"

"They asked me to write a song for the football championship. You know me, I'm a flag-wearer and I'd do anything for Portugal and I was like, 'Yeah. Cool. Here's my chance to throw some Portuguese in there.' The chorus is fully Portuguese."

Ricky Martin's "The Cup Of Life" became a 1998 World Cup soccer anthem for the Latin American star, and Furtado admits to being a little daunted by the task at first. "Ricky Martin, I thought, yeah, it's stiff competition," says Furtado. "How am I going to do a song? I actually thought about it."

But not for long. Writing with her partners Brian West and Gerald Eaton, they came up with the song in about 10 minutes, she says. The title, "Forca," means strength in Portuguese.

"It's inspired by watching my cousins cry when their football team loses and the lyrics are just about life," Furtado says. "It's got Portuguese accordion. Bela Fleck is featured on banjo, so he brings his cool spin to it and this real international vibe."

Furtado will also be performing at the championship game. By then, she will have been on the road behind Folklore. She starts a 13-date U.S. tour April 30 in Chicago at the Vic Theater.

"It's a theatre tour. It's going to be pretty stripped down actually from my last tour, Burn In The Spotlight. Then we're going to Europe and playing bigger venues and in Canada we're playing theatres too"

The idea of a theatre tour appeals to the new mother.

"Just to include everyone, in my audience, just get everyone out, no matter what," she says. "There's times when you play clubs and you can't get families out with their kids, just because some parents don't want to take their small children to clubs, although my club tours are really fun too.

"The tour's gonna be great. These new songs are a lot easier to play. They are more simple. The melodies are more simple. I'm less tied down to samples on this album, less tied down to spastic rhythmic changes and things like that. Vocally, it's less demanding. 'Whoa, Nelly!' was a very vocally demanding record."