Ranking every World Cup mascot: From World Cup Willie to Maple, Zayu and Clutch

1 month ago 45

Cesar HernandezSep 26, 2025, 08:28 AM ET

Move implicit Ballon d'Or, we've got caller World Cup mascots to analyse and reason over. With quality that Maple the Moose (representing Canada), Zayu the Jaguar (Mexico), and Clutch the Bald Eagle (United States) person officially joined the tournament's all-time database of mascots for 2026, we wondered wherever the trio acceptable successful the pantheon?

As portion of an eclectic radical since 1966 that includes an anthropomorphic orange, a trouser-less carnivore that spends his clip with a talking shot ball, and a faceless instrumentality figure, it's nary casual oregon empirical task to signifier them each from worst to best.

In a ranking that volition surely garner conscionable arsenic overmuch treatment arsenic Ousmane Dembele vs. Lamine Yamal, we person organized that motley mascot unit from bottommost to top. Let's dive in...

All mascot photos via FIFA.com

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16. Ant, Kaz and Nik: South Korea/Japan, 2002

Soccer should reward the avant-garde hazard takers and not those who privation to parkland the autobus artistically, but 20+ years later, this 1 inactive feels conscionable arsenic confusing arsenic it did backmost then.

A contrived effort astatine looking to the future, these guys yet onshore astatine the bottommost of our ranking acknowledgment to not adjacent playing shot to statesman with. According to FIFA, they're playing "Atomball" instead, with Ato the manager and Kaz and Nik his players.

15. Gauchito: Argentina, 1978

Hey, Mexico 1970, is it good if we transcript your homework? There was intelligibly a taxable successful the 1970s of including kids arsenic the World Cup symbols.

He wears a chapeau that says "ARGENTINA 78" successful lawsuit you missed what tourney it was, and a handkerchief. But, contempt perchance being the lone mascot successful past to see a whip acknowledgment to his gaucho attire, there's a existent deficiency of creativity here.

14. Tip and Tap: West Germany, 1974

You person to springiness immoderate recognition to West Germany for bringing successful the first-ever mascot duo successful what was a wide unifying connection astatine a clip of governmental upheaval, with 2 young boys "Tip" and "Tap" joining forces.

FIFA noted that they bring an "image of togetherness and friendship," but there's conscionable thing profoundly unsettling astir their cartoony smiles and faces. And if you were wondering what WM stands for, past it's Weltmeisterschaft (German for World Cup.)

13. Juanito: Mexico, 1970

A World Cup that brought america the tournament's archetypal TV broadcasts successful color, the iconic Telstar ball, that unthinkable Brazil team, and arguably the top branding successful the past of the competition, deserved a spot much than the humble Juanito.

Granted, helium was lone the second-ever mascot and the archetypal kid to beryllium involved, truthful the designers mightiness not person had overmuch to spell on, but it was a missed accidental fixed however past remembers the event.