In April this year, the mascot of the 2022 Qatar World Cup was officially unveiled. From the day this cartoon image appeared, its smart, cute and energetic appearance has gained a large number of fans around the world.
The mascot's name is "La'eeb", which means skilled player in Arabic, and he encourages people to believe in himself that he will lead everyone to the joy of football.
Ra'ib's design is inspired by the traditional costumes of the Qatari people. It can be said to be a very good design to personify this traditional costume.
Compared with the World Cup theme song, the mascot has a longer history, dating back to the England World Cup 56 years ago.
It was from that time that the mascot became the symbol of the most influential single sports event in the world, and began to take root in the hearts of the people.
first mascot
Cartoon Lion "Willie"
The first World Cup mascot was named "Willie", because the World Cup started to be held in 1930, and England became the host in 1966. After eight sessions, the concept of mascot was introduced for the first time.
The England team is also known as the "Three Lions". The mascot of this session is based on the lion, creating a lively and lovely cartoon lion image.
As for the creator of "Willie", there are two theories among the English folk. One is that it was made by several college students who love football at Cambridge University, and another is that the artist Hoyer was inspired by the prototype of his 12-year-old son.
Judging from the shape of "Willie", first of all, its hairstyle is very contemporary in 1966, integrating fashion and tradition.
The "Willie" hairstyle was a popular hairstyle for young British men at that time. The color of the hair was chosen to represent solemn and orthodox gray and white. This hairstyle almost reflected the trend of the entire British in the 1960s and 1970s.
In addition, the sneaker design of "Willie" is also a highlight. The red sneakers were the favorite of the most famous British star George Best at the time. .
Design Principles
On behalf of the host country's culture, customs, etc.
In the subsequent World Cups, the image of the mascot also followed the principle of representing the culture, region and customs of the host country.
For example, in the 1970 World Cup in Mexico, the cute and funny little boy "Pique" wearing a traditional straw hat; in the 1974 World Cup in Germany, the two German children, one tall, one thin, one short and one fat, had their real names "Pique". "Tip" and "Tip"; the mascot of the 1978 Argentina World Cup is a little boy who is playing football. He holds a horse whip in his right hand, wears a traditional Argentine plateau national hat, and is full of smiles. His name is "Gauchito" (Gauchetto)".
In the 1982 World Cup in Spain, the mascot broke the convention of using animals or characters as the mascot, and instead used a fat giant orange as the protagonist, because it was the proud specialty of the Spanish, named Naranjito (Naranjito). Rangito).
The 1986 World Cup returned to Mexico. Although the mascot this time was no longer a boy, the design of the wide-brimmed straw hat was still used, except that there was a pepper under the straw hat.
He's still called "Pique" because the boy he was then has grown up.
In the summer of 1990 in Italy, the designer went against tradition and used a football and building blocks to form a human figure, named "Qiao". The main body used the green, white and red colors of the Italian flag, which was very dynamic and creative.
The host country of the 1994 World Cup was the United States. The Americans designed a cartoon dog as the mascot of the World Cup, named "Striker", which means shooter.
Needless to say, the 1998 World Cup in France is inseparable from the template of the Gallic rooster, a human-shaped cheering and jumping rooster named "Forticus", which was voted by 47% of the 18,500 voters. The little rooster named after it means that football shines on the earth like the sun.
keep changing
Three sprites Atmo from outer space
The 2002 World Cup came to Asia for the first time and was co-hosted by two countries. The mascots changed the anthropomorphic image of animals in the past. The sprites of "To", "Nick" and "Kaz" are collectively called "Atmo".
One of the older, taller leaders was blond and held a soccer ball, the other two were smaller, one in violet and the other in blue.
The older golden elves looked like ancient East Asian warriors, and the two younger elves had tentacles on their heads.
These outer space elves live in the atmosphere and play a "space version" of football, symbolizing "harmony, unity and cooperation".
The mascot of the 2006 World Cup in Germany was a 2.30-meter lion named "Goleo VI" (translated as Gregory VI); the 2010 World Cup entered Africa for the first time, with a green curly hair. The leopard "Zakumi" became the mascot of the World Cup; in the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, its mascot was an armadillo, named "Fuleco", translated as "Fuleco".
The color of its body and limbs is exactly the color of the Brazilian flag and the Brazilian football team's uniform, and this is the fifth time that the World Cup has used animal images as mascots.
For the most recent 2018 World Cup in Russia, the mascot is called "Zabivaka", which is based on the Siberian plains wolf, which means "goal scorer" in Russian.
Over the past 56 years, the design of the World Cup mascots has remained the same. First, it must be related to football.
Designers are free to play on these foundations.
In short, although everyone's views are different, the images of these mascots will highlight the common hobbies and pursuits of fans all over the world, which is the eternal topic of football, leading fans to be fanatical about football and shout for football.
Text/Reporter Liu Ailin
Coordinator/Wang Yong
"Beijing Youth Daily" November 10, 2022 Edition A08