FIFA WORLD CUP MASCOTS

Each FIFA World Cup since 1966 has its own mascot. World Cup Willie, the mascot for the 1966 competition, was the first World Cup mascot, and one of the first mascots to be associated with a major sporting competition. The mascot designs show some representing a characteristic feature (costume, flora, fauna, etc) of the host country.

The World Cup mascot is mostly targeted at children with cartoon shows and other merchandise released to coincide with the competition.
This Showcase Includes The FIFA World Cup Mascots & Logos from 1930-2010::-
2010 SOUTH AFRICA
MASCOT NAME: Zakumi 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 represents South African national sports' teams colors. His name comes from "ZA", the ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 code for South Africa, and "kumi", a word that means "ten" in various African languages.
Zakumi is extremely proud to be the Official Mascot and determined to be the best host for everyone visiting his beloved country. He symbolizes South Africa and the rest of the African continent through his self-confidence, pride, hospitality, social skills and warm-heartedness.
Zakumi is a jolly, self-confident, adventurous, spontaneous, and actually quite shrewd little fellow. He loves to perform and always follows his instinct and intuition, yet sometimes has the tendency to exaggerate a bit. You will often find him fooling about and teasing people but not in a mean way. He is warm-hearted and caring, and wants to make as many friends as possible.

1966 ENGLAND
A lion, a typical symbol of the United Kingdom, wearing a Union Flag jersey with the words "WORLD CUP".

1970 MEXICO

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

Two boys wearing Germany kits, with the letters WM (Weltmeisterschaft, World Cup) and number 74.

1978 ARGENTINA

A boy wearing Argentina's kit. His hat (with the words ARGENTINA '78), neckerchief and whip are typical of gauchos.

1982 SPAIN

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

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

A stick figure player with a football head and an Italian tricolore body. Its name is an Italian greeting.

1994 UNITED STATES

A dog, a common US pet animal, wearing a red, white and blue football uniform with the words "USA 94"

1998 FRANCE

A rooster, 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" from the popular Astérix comic strip. Other proposed names were "Raffy", "Houpi" and "Gallik".

2002 KOREAN REPUBLIC & JAPAN

Orange, purple and 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.

2006 GERMANY

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.