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List of FIFA World Cup official mascots

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The FIFA World Cup official mascots are a series of characters for each World Cup event. The trend began with World Cup Willie in 1966 FIFA World Cup, one of the first mascots to be associated with a major sporting competition. The mascot designs represent a characteristic or symbol of the host country, such as flora, fauna, or costume.[1] The design is frequently one or more anthropomorphic characters targeted at children and coinciding with cartoon shows and merchandise.[2]

List of mascots

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World Cup Host
Country 		Mascot name Description
1966 England World Cup Willie A lion, a typical symbol of the United Kingdom, wearing a Union Flag jersey with the words "WORLD CUP". Designed by freelance children's book illustrator Reg Hoye.[1] Bill Titcombe made a comic strip about the character.[3] In 2014, Lonnie Donegan Jr. re-recorded the campaign song originally sung by his father Lonnie Donegan.[4]
1970 Mexico Juanito A boy wearing Mexico's kit and a sombrero (with the words "MEXICO 70"). His name is the diminutive of "Juan", a common name in Spanish.
1974 West Germany Tip and Tap Two boys wearing Germany kits, with the letters WM (Weltmeisterschaft, World Cup) and number 74.
1978 Argentina Gauchito A boy wearing Argentina's kit. His hat (with the words ARGENTINA '78), neckerchief and whip are typical of gauchos.
1982 Spain Naranjito An orange, a typical fruit in Spain, wearing the kit of the host's national team. Its name comes from naranja, Spanish for orange, and the diminutive suffix "-ito".
1986 Mexico Pique A jalapeño pepper, characteristic of Mexican cuisine, with a moustache and wearing a sombrero. Its name comes from picante, Spanish for spicy peppers and sauces.
1990 Italy Ciao A stick figure player with a football head and an Italian tricolore body. Its name is an Italian greeting.
1994 United States Striker A dog, a common US pet animal, wearing a red, white and blue soccer uniform with the words "USA 94".
1998 France Footix A cockerel, one of the national symbols of France, with the words "FRANCE 98" on the chest. Its body is mostly blue, like the host's national team shirt and its name is a portmanteau of "football" and the ending "-ix", a name suffix common among the Gauls. Other proposed names were "Raffy", "Houpi" and "Gallik".
  • The mascot for the 2019 Women's World Cup, also hosted by France, was a young female chicken named "Ettie", portrayed as the daughter of Footix.[5]
2002 South Korea
Japan

Ato, Kaz and Nik

Orange, purple, and blue (respectively) futuristic, computer-generated creatures. Collectively members of a team of "Atmosball" (a fictional football-like sport), Ato is the coach while Kaz and Nik are players. The three individual names were selected from shortlists by users on the Internet and at McDonald's outlets in the host countries.
2006 Germany Goleo VI and Pille A lion wearing a Germany shirt with the number 06 with a talking football named Pille. Goleo is a portmanteau of the words "goal" and "Leo", the Latin word for lion. In Germany, "Pille" is a colloquial term for a football.
2010 South Africa Zakumi Zakumi. He is a leopard, a common animal found in South Africa, with green hair wearing a shirt saying South Africa 2010. Zakumi's green and gold colors represent South African national sports' team's colors. His name comes from "ZA", for South Africa, and "Kumi", a word that means "ten" in various African languages.
2014 Brazil Fuleco A Brazilian three-banded armadillo wearing a white T-shirt reading "Brasil 2014" and a green Bermuda. He has a blue carapace which is patterned after a traditional football. The selection of Fuleco brings attention to the country's great biodiversity, as the Brazilian three-banded armadillo is endemic to Brazil and is classified as a vulnerable species. The name Fuleco is a portmanteau of the words "futebol" ("football") and "ecologia" ("ecology").
2018 Russia Zabivaka A wolf with a name that translates from Russian as The Goalscorer. Zabivaka wears red shorts and a blue and white T-shirt emblazoned with the words "Russia 2018". The color combination is that of the Russian team, with the mascot being selected via internet voting.
2022 Qatar La’eeb A white floating ghutrah with eyes, eyebrows and an open mouth. Its name is La’eeb, which is an Arabic word meaning "super-skilled player".
2026 Canada
Mexico
United States 		TBD TBD
2030 Morocco
Portugal
Spain 		TBD TBD
2034 Saudi Arabia TBD TBD

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b Kasprzak, Emma (15 June 2012). "World Cup Willie's sporting mascot legacy". BBC News. Retrieved 4 July 2012.
  2. ^ "FIFA World Cup official mascots". FIFA. Archived from the original on 31 July 2020. Retrieved 3 June 2020.
  3. ^ "Bill Titcombe". lambiek.net.
  4. ^ "World Cup Willie". footballandmusic.co.uk. 2007–2014. Retrieved 17 June 2014.
  5. ^ "ettie revealed as Official Mascot for FIFA Women's World Cup France 2019". FIFA.com. 12 May 2018.
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