UEFA European Championship mascot

The UEFA European Football Championship has featured mascots since 1980. The very first mascot was Pinocchio, for the UEFA Euro 1980 in Italy.[1] Since then, every tournament has had a mascot except for the UEFA Euro 2008 and UEFA Euro 2012, that both had two. The mascots are mostly targeted at children, with cartoon shows and other merchandise released to coincide with the competition.

List of mascots

There have been a total of eleven mascots (a duo was featured in both 2008 and 2012) in the nine tournaments since 1980:

European Football Championship Mascot(s) Description Image
Italy 1980 Pinocchio Based on the character from the children's story of the same name. Pinocchio comprised a small wooden boy with long nose in the colours of the Italian national flag and a white hat emblazoned with EUROPA 80.[1][2]
France 1984 Péno A white cockerel, a traditional national symbol of France, dressed in a French coloured football strip including football boots and white gloves.[3]
West Germany 1988 Berni A cartoonised German Grey Rabbit with human shaped body. Berni wore an outfit in the colours of the German national flag with a black football jersey with UEFA across the front, red football shorts and yellow or golden socks additionally with white head and wristbands. Mostly depicted while jumping and controlling a football.
Sweden 1992 Rabbit The Swedish mascot was also a rabbit in the national colours with head and wristbands controlling a football like the mascot from four years previously and was called name of Rabbit.
England 1996 Goaliath Goaliath was designed in a similar fashion to the original World Cup mascot from 1966 World Cup called World Cup Willie. Goliath comprised a lion, the image on the English football teams crest, dressed in an England football strip and football boots whilst holding a football under his right arm.
Netherlands/Belgium 2000 Benelucky A lion with a devil's tail and human hands. A lion's head appears on the crest of the Dutch national federation, and the Belgian national team is historically nicknamed "Red Devils". The name Benelucky is a portmanteau of "Benelux", the term for the three nations of Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg, and the ending "-lucky" wishing the participating teams "good luck".

It wore football boots and held a football under its left arm.

One of the most striking characteristics of Benelucky was its multicoloured lions mane which incorporated the colours of both the Belgian and Dutch national flags.
Portugal 2004 Kinas A cartoon version of a boy dressed in the Portugal football strip. The mascot's name, Kinas, is taken from "Bandeira das Quinas", which is a name for Portugal's national flag.
Austria/Switzerland 2008 Trix and Flix A twin set of mascots two represent the two host countries, Austria and Switzerland. The Rainbow Productions and Warner Bros. design was of two child like characters both dressed in football strips comprising solely red and white, the colours of the national flags of Austria and Switzerland.
Poland/Ukraine 2012 Slavek and Slavko Once again Rainbow Productions and Warner Bros. created the mascots. The twins represent two host nations, Poland and Ukraine. One twin wears Poland's national colours of white and red, the other the yellow and blue of Ukraine.
France 2016 Super Victor A child in the kit of the French national football team, with a red cape at the back, to echo the blue, white, red flag. Other considered named were Dribblou and Goalix. The cape, boots and ball are claimed to be the Child's superpowers.[4]
2020 TBA TBA

See also

References

  1. 1 2 "Italy meets UEFA European Football Championship 1980 (Euro 80)". Euro 2012 Live Online. Archived from the original on July 5, 2008. Retrieved 13 September 2007.
  2. ↑ "Brands - Pinocchio". Brands of the World. Retrieved 13 September 2007.
  3. ↑ "Brands - Peno". Brands of the World. Retrieved 13 September 2007.
  4. ↑ http://www.uefa.com/uefaeuro/finals/news/newsid=2189677.html
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