Russia announces ‘Wolf’ mascot for 2018 World Cup

“Zabivaka” translates to “the one who scores” in Russian. Designed by Ekaterina Bocharova, a student designer, the wolf was presented as a cool, confident, funny, and talented figure. The mascot selection process involved a million votes on the Fifa website and a live show on Russia’s Channel 1. The wolf competed with a tiger that received 27%, and a cat that received 22% of the total votes. Fifa Secretary General Fatma Samoura said: “To get to the stage of seeing the wolf chosen today, we first collected the preferences of Russian kids through an online poll. Based on those ideas, university students submitted their designs and now the public have chosen their favourite character from among the final three” “Eighteen months after kicking-off this project, we are extremely happy that the 2018 mascot is the result of a team effort where the Russian people demonstrated their creative flair and their strong commitment to putting on a successful FIFA World Cup,” she added. [iframe id="https://www.youtube.com/embed/p9FYwD5QiKQ"] Football legend and two-time World Cup winner for Brazil, Ronaldo, attended the announcement of the mascot. He said: “Mascots are great ambassadors for promoting the event and bring so much joy to the stadiums. I can see it happening already in Russia with Zabivaka just by seeing him on stage tonight. He will surely be remembered for a very long time by football fans all over the world.” Zabikava, the wolf mascot, has been described by the design as the youngest player in the squad.“There is no one faster, bolder or more skilful with a football. Wolf’s talent nearly always contributes to his team winning the match.”