This 12 months’s World Cup serves up but extra soulless, company animal slop to go away followers pining for the times of distinctive talismans
World Cup Willie marched on to the scene in 1966 with a spiky mane, bovver boy stance, bulbous brogues and – intriguingly for a World Cup held completely in England – a union jack shirt. The product of a five-minute sketch by kids’s illustrator Reg Hoye, who went on to create a purple satan mascot for Manchester United, Willie was a advertising sensation. The primary World Cup mascot featured on every little thing from bedspreads to beermats, ceramics to cereal bins.
Quick ahead 60 years and it’s clear how far World Cup mascots have fallen since their peak within the Seventies and 80s. In 2026 we now have what’s largely been served up for the previous 32 years: soulless, company, anthropomorphic animal slop. Meet Canadian moose Maple, Mexican jaguar Zayu and American bald eagle Clutch, who appear to be rejects from a straight-to-streaming DreamWorks sequel.
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