The 2006 World Cup in Germany gave us two mascots for the price of one: Goleo – an anthropomorphic lion with more than a slight resemblance to kids’ TV icon Bear in the Big Blue House – and ...

World Cup mascots all started here and England nailed the template of a successful one right off the bat with what could be argued as their 'fourth' lion in World Cup Willie - so ahead of his time ...

That first mascot was called World Cup Willie, a lion wearing a Union Jack kit, followed by Juanito, a young football fan wearing Mexico’s kit and a sombrero in 1970. Other famous mascots have ...

From World Cup Willie in 1966 to Zabivaka at Russia in 2018, every World Cup tournament needs a good mascot. Irish native who switched from the music industry to the world of sport moving from ...

The song was an ode to the mascot Willie — a first for the World Cup, featuring an old lion dressed in the English or British flag. It would become a mainstay of subsequent tournaments to have a ...

Ever since World Cup Willie strutted his stuff in 1966, mascots from big-nosed toys to lion/devil hybrids have brought their own joie de vivre to major football tournaments across the globe.