Zabivaka () was the official mascot of the
2018 FIFA World Cup
The 2018 FIFA World Cup was the 21st FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for national association football, football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Russia from 14 June to 15 July 2018, after the country was awarded t ...
, which was held in
Russia
Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...
. The name is a
blend of the Russian words
забивать ("to strike") and
собака ("dog").
Designed by student designer Ekaterina Bocharova, aged 22, the mascot was selected by
internet voting in Russia, beating out a tiger and a cat.
[
In pre-World Cup events, the mascot was played by English ]YouTuber
A YouTuber is a content creator and social media influencer who uploads or creates videos on the online video-sharing website YouTube, typically posting to their personal YouTube channel. The term was first used in the English language in 2006 ...
and actor Rafe Young.
Design
The mascot was unveiled on 21 October 2016. It represents an anthropomorphic
Anthropomorphism is the attribution of human traits, emotions, or intentions to non-human entities. It is considered to be an innate tendency of human psychology. Personification is the related attribution of human form and characteristics to ...
Eurasian wolf
The Eurasian wolf (''Canis lupus lupus''), also known as the common wolf,Mech, L. David (1981), ''The Wolf: The Ecology and Behaviour of an Endangered Species'', University of Minnesota Press, p. 354, is a subspecies of grey wolf native to Euro ...
(''Canis lupus lupus'') with brown and white fur, wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with the words "RUSSIA 2018" and orange goggles
Goggles, or safety glasses, are forms of protective eyewear that usually enclose or protect the area surrounding the eye in order to prevent particulates, water or chemicals from striking the eyes. They are used in chemistry laboratories and ...
— according to the designer, these are not ski goggles, but sports goggles like those used in cycling: "Zabivaka is so fast on the field that he needs eye protection".
Competition
The competition results were announced on 22 October 2016, in the '' Evening Urgant'' on the Channel One Russia
Channel One ( rus, Первый канал, r=Pervý kanal, p=ˈpʲervɨj kɐˈnal, t=First Channel) is a Russian Television in Russia, federal television channel. Its headquarters are located at Ostankino Technical Center near the Ostankino To ...
. The Wolf, named Zabivaka, scored 53% of the votes, ahead of the Tiger (27%) and the Cat (20%). More than one million people participated in the voting, which took place during September 2016 at FIFA.com, as well as before an during the live show of the ''Evening Urgant'', where the results of the competition were announced.
"Создатель талисмана ЧМ-2018, волка Забиваки, получила за свою работу 500 долларов "
Gallery
File:PAN-TUN (33).jpg, Zabivaka maskot during 2018 FIFA World Cup
The 2018 FIFA World Cup was the 21st FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for national association football, football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Russia from 14 June to 15 July 2018, after the country was awarded t ...
match between Panama national football team, Panama and Tunisia
Tunisia, officially the Republic of Tunisia, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered by Algeria to the west and southwest, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Tunisia also shares m ...
.
File:Zabivaka-Maskottchen. 2H1A1590WI.jpg, Zabivaka statue in Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...
during 2018 FIFA World Cup
The 2018 FIFA World Cup was the 21st FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for national association football, football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Russia from 14 June to 15 July 2018, after the country was awarded t ...
in June 2018.
File:Stamp-russia2017-newyear-2018fifa-block.png, Zabivaka pictures on a russian set of postage stamps.
See also
*
FIFA World Cup mascot
The FIFA World Cup official mascots are a series of characters representing each FIFA World Cup event. The trend began with Willie in 1966 FIFA World Cup, one of the first mascot, mascots to be associated with a major sporting competition. The masc ...
s
*
2014 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games mascots
*
Zoich
*
Misha
Misha (), also known as Mishka () or The Olympic Mishka (), is the name of the Russian Bear mascot of the 1980 Summer Olympics, 1980 Moscow Olympic Games (the XXII Summer Olympics). He was designed by children's books illustrator Victor Chizhik ...
*
Vučko
*
2018 World Cup
*
FIFA World Cup
The FIFA World Cup, often called the World Cup, is an international association football competition among the senior List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams of the members of the FIFA, Fédération Internatio ...
References
External links
FIFA's official webpage on Zabivaka
2018 FIFA World Cup
Fictional wolves
Anthropomorphic wolves
Russian mascots
FIFA World Cup mascots
Mascots introduced in 2016
{{mascot-stub