FIFA World Cup Mascots

Willie
The mascot of the England 1966 World Cup was 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. Bill Titcombe made a comic strip about the character. In 2014, Lonnie Donegan Jr. re-recorded the campaign song originally sung by his father Lonnie Donegan.

Juanito
The mascot of the Mexico 1970 World cup was 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.

Tip and Tap
The mascots of the West Germany 1974 World Cup were two boys wearing Germany kits, with the letters WM (Weltmeisterschaft, World Cup) and number 74.

Gauchito
The mascot of the Argentina World Cup was a boy wearing Argentina's kit. His hat (with the words ARGENTINA '78), neckerchief and whip are typical of gauchos.

Naranjito
The mascot of the Spain 1982 World Cup was 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".

Pique
The mascot of the Mexico 1986 World Cup was 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.

Ciao
The mascot of the Italy 1990 World Cup was a stick figure player with a football head and an Italian tricolore body. Its name is an Italian greeting.

Striker
The mascot of the 1994 United States World Cup was a dog, a common US pet animal, wearing a red, white and blue soccer uniform with the words "USA 94".

Footix
The mascot of the France 1998 World Cup was 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".

Ato, Kaz and Nik
The mascots of the South Korea/Japan 2002 World cup were an orange, a purple, and a blue (respectively) futuristic, computer-generated creatures. Collectively members of a team of "Atmoball" (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.

Goleo and Pillie
The mascots of the Germany 2006 World Cup were a lion wearing a Germany shirt with the number 06 and 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.

Zakumi
The mascot of the South Africa 2010 FIFA World Cup was 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.

Fuleco
The mascot of the Brazil 2014 FIFA World Cup was a Brazilian three-banded armadillo wearing a white T-shirt reading "Brasil 2014". The Brazilian three-banded armadillo is found only in Brazil and is classified as a vulnerable species, and the selection of Fuleco brings attention to Brazil's great biodiversity. The name Fuleco is a portmanteau of the words "Futebol" ("Football") and "Ecologia" ("Ecology").

Zabivaka
The mascot of the Russia 2018 FIFA World Cup was 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.

La'eeb
La'eeb (لعيب, in Arabic - Super-Skilled Player) is the mascot of the Qatar 2022 FIFA World Cup. It is a sympathetic anthropomorphic ghutra, a traditional male headscarf in Arab culture. The white color was chosen because it represents "purity". La'eeb was revealed in an animation shown by the Local Organizing Committee ahead of the 2022 FIFA World Cup group draw held in Doha on 1 April of that year. The animation features a "metaverse" with other World Cup mascots. Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, Emir of Qatar and the possible inspirer of the mascot, took the stage to be greeted by FIFA President Gianni Infantino, wearing a ghutra. On its social networks, FIFA published:

"''The official mascot of the 2022 World Cup is full of energy and will bring the joy of football to everyone. La'eeb believes that 'Now Is Everything' and encourages everyone to believe in themselves. themselves". The general director of marketing and communication at the local organizing committee, Khalid Ali Al Mawlawi, said: "We are delighted to reveal La'eeb as the first official mascot of the World Cup in the Middle East and the Arab world.''"

Shortly after its release, La'eeb became an internet meme and was compared to other characters, most notably Casper. The term "ghost" reached the top positions of Twitter's Trending Topics.