Voting starts to choose a 2018 FIFA World Cup mascot

Voting starts to choose a 2018 FIFA World Cup mascot

27 September 2016

The Amur tiger has made it onto the shortlist of mascots for the 21st FIFA World Cup to be held in Russia in the summer of 2018. Internet users will be choosing between a tiger, a cat and a wolf. Voting has started on FIFA’s website and will last until 21 October.

 

The three finalists were chosen last February by a special jury, which included leading Russian athletes, showbiz celebrities and other cultural figures. Students from Russian art colleges drew the characters as they imagined them: a cat dribbling a ball with its tail, a wolf wearing special sports glasses in the manner of Dutch football player Edgar Steven Davids, and a tiger going onto the pitch wearing a space suit as it dreams of becoming the number one football player in space.

 

The candidate mascots were unveiled at a Circle of Light Festival show on 23 September. The three characters were projected onto the front of the Moscow State University building.

 

The Amur tiger has been chosen as a mascot for various sports several times. The tiger cub Zhorik was a mascot for the 2012 and 2014 world judo championships. Russia’s largest cat has been sambo’s official mascot since 2015.