World Cup Mascots

World Cup mascots have been as popular as olympic mascots for a while now, but here we'd like to share with you some of their history and how they became what they are today, starting with the first world cup mascot called World Cup Willie, an English lion, who was introduced in 1966 and quickly became one of the most famous mascots around the world. An olympic or world cup mascot usually is based on something typical from the flora or fauna of the host country and is often dressed in the Nations colors or the nations uniform, the name as well usually derives from a typical expression of the host country.
Of course their main purpose is to be targeted at children with cartoon shows and other merchandise released in time to coincide with the competition. Without further ado, here are the world cup mascots, starting from the first one:


World Cup Willie - England 1966 World Cup



World Cup Willie or WCW was the first world cup mascot, developed by the host country of the event, England chose a Lion, for it being a typical symbol of the country, it wore a union flag on its chest and it had the words world cup.

Juanito - Mexico 1970 World Cup


Juanito comes from the most typical mexican name of Juan, but in diminutive, and he was a little boy wearing Mexico's Kit and a big sombrero with the words Mexico 70 on it. This was just the second mascot of history and the world cup committee was still not too professional on the development of these.

Tip and Tap - West Germany 1974 World Cup

Germany was separated into East Germany and West Germany, and this time the west was the host, the mascots were two german looking boys called Tip and Tap, who many thought represented both sides of the country at that time. They were wearing Germany's Kit and had the letters WM on their chest which stood for Weltmeisterschaft or World Cup and the 74 number, representing, of course, the year.

Gauchito - Argentina 1978 World Cup



Gauchito or Mundialito as people came to know him, was a boy with Argentina's kit, his hat had the words Argentina 78 on it and he wore a neckerchief and a whip, which were typical items used by gauchos. The name obviously came from the Gauchos who are a representation of Argentinian people who are very similar to cowboys.

Naranjito - Spain 1982 World Cup



Naranjito, as you can hear from its name, was just that, a little orange who liked to play soccer... the orange of course, being a typical fruit of spain and its name deriving plainly from its being a little orange.

Pique - Mexico 1986 World Cup


Pique was a typical mexican Jalapeño pepper, which is characteristic of their cuisine, he also had a moustache and a big sombrero. Pique was dressed in a red jersey with white shorts, no one could explain why they would use a chile for a mascot, but it was one of the most beloved one of them all.

Ciao - Italia 1990 World Cup

Ciao was a cubic style stick figurine with a football for a head, and the italian colors covering its body. The name Ciao obviously came from the famous Italian expression to express greetings. Many claim the form of Ciao came due to the boost of Lego toys during those years.


Striker - USA 1994 World Cup




Striker was a friendly dog whose name obviously came from the verbe to strike, commonly used in soccer when a player hits the ball... his uniform was pretty similar to that of the United States national team and on its chest you could read the imprint USA 94.

Footix - France 1998 World Cup



Footix was a cockerel which is one of the main symbols of France, and he had a tattoo inscription of France 98 on its chest. Like the host's main colors, Footix was painted in Red and Blue bright colors, and his name is derived of the combination of the word football and an -ix termination in honor of the well known children's comic books of Asterix and Obelix. Other proposed names were Raffi and Gallik.


Ato, Kaz and Nik - Korea Japan 2002 World Cup



Ato, Kaz and Nik were futuristic computer generated creatures, and they were together members of a fictional football-like sport team called "Atmoball", Ato was the coach, while Kaz and Nik were players, the three names were selected by users on the internet and at McDonalds outlets in the host countries.

Goleo VI - Germany 2006 World Cup



Goleo was a Lion wearing the Germany shirt with the number 06 on its chest and he is never found far from his faithful sidekick Pille, a talking football. There was some criticism in the fact that Goleo wears a shirt but wears no trousers... The name Goleo came inspired from the latin words for Goal and Lion and in Germany Pille is a colloquial term for soccer.


As soon as we know who the South Africa Mascot is going to be, well be sure to make you know about it...



saluuuuu