© 2010 Ballacorkish
© 2010 Ballacorkish
Zakumi – World Cup Mascot
I first discovered Zakumi whilst watching the South African world cup on tv, I was also multi-tasking by trying to play poker online and doing the ironing aswell as eating my lunch. The official mascot called Zakumi is a football loving leopard with bright green hair. His name comes from “ZA”, which stands for south Africa and “kumi”, a word that means ten in several African languages. Zakumi’s green and gold colours matches the uniform worn by their national football team. Apprently his hair is green so that he is better camouflaged on the football pitch.
Zakumi was born on the 16th of June 1994 the date coincides with Youth Day and the year is when South Africa became a democracy. He is a cheerful and sporty animal, he loves football and proud to be South African. The official Fifa site says this about him;
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.
Also on the Fifa site you can read a comic about the mascot, watch videos and see photos. If you’d like to make a cool looking papertoy Zakumi visit design on the rocks.
Special thanks to Ballacorkish for his two great Zakumi photos. To see another Idle Idol of the Korean / Japan mascots; the Spheriks click here. At the bottom of the page you’ll see all the world cup mascots. I think Zakumi is a great football mascot however my favourite is World Cup Willie but perhaps I’m being a little bit biased. Let us know your favourite world cup mascot in the comments. To find out more about the past world cup mascots click here.
Ashley Ford
I always remember the France 98 World Cup as I think TDK were the main sponsor and my Dad used to sell TDK stuff and had a load of merchandise with the mascot on. Not quite sure what was going on with the 2002 mascot more like a set of kids tv characters!
Jun 14, 2010 @ 11:34 am
Malia N
My favourite is also World cup Willie, but a close second is Zakumi.I have very VERY vague memories of seeing Ciao around as a very young child, but I remember the France 1998 one the most.
Agree with the Japanese one’s, very unusual, especially from a country who you would think would revel in this sort of thing. I don’t remember seeing them at all in 2002.
Jun 30, 2010 @ 10:01 pm
whatwhated
I think Zakumi is my second favourite too. My least favourite has to be Goleo VI and his freaky friend. The Spheriks are pretty weird and yes I don’t remember seeing them at all during that world cup. I guess the Koreans should take some of the responsibility for them as well.
Jul 01, 2010 @ 9:55 am
Joyce
From all world cup mascots, the most awkward would be Ciao… it’s a very stiff design. I like Zakumi and Pique, they do posess the spirit of football mascots. I also wonder what was going on with the korean-japanese designers when making the spheriks but ther’re cool anyway… nicely colored and fun hair styles; very atractice actually.
Sep 13, 2010 @ 1:25 am
t3h fake
Why is Gauchito holding a straight razor? Soccer hooligan?
Oct 24, 2010 @ 12:07 am
whatwhated
Haha yeah I hadn’t noticed that, I wonder what it is.
Oct 24, 2010 @ 5:42 am