All FIFA World Cup Mascots (1966 → 2026)
A retrospective look at the history of every official mascot from the world’s premier national team tournament.
In 1966, for the World Cup in England, FIFA decided to launch a figure that would appeal to children, introducing World Cup Willie, a cartoon lion representing the tournament played on English soil.
From that moment on, the tradition continued edition after edition. Children were the protagonists in the following three editions: Juanito (Mexico ’70), Tip And Tap (Germany ’74), and Gauchito (Argentina ’78).
Then came an orange (Spain ’82), a jalapeño pepper (Mexico ’86), and a unique abstract figure for Italy ’90.
A dog was chosen for the United States ’94 edition and a rooster for France ’98. Then came the surprising three aliens of the first World Cup hosted by two countries in Asia in 2002 (Korea/Japan).
For the following four cups, the usual animal figures returned: a lion (Germany 2006), a leopard (South Africa 2010), an armadillo (Brazil 2014), and a wolf (Russia 2018).
In Qatar 2022, a traditional regional woolen headdress was featured, which also inspired the tournament’s logo.
Meanwhile, in 2026, each of the three host nations will have an animal as its representative: a moose named “Maple” for Canada, a jaguar named “Zayu” for Mexico, and an eagle named “Clutch” for the United States.
