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ZAKUMI: SPIRIT OF SOUTH AFRICA 2010 |
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by South Africa.info
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He's a fluffy young leopard with green dreadlocks and a wide smile; he's energetic, enthusiastic, sociable, self-confident and ambitious – and he loves football. Meet Zakumi, the official mascot for the 2010 Fifa World Cup.
For 40 years, each Fifa World Cup tournament has had its own unique mascot. The first was a lion called World Cup Willie, the mascot for the 1966 event, hosted by England.
Fifa and the South Africa 2010 Local Organising Committee (LOC) have given the 2010 mascot a distinct personality and personal history.
"One thing is for sure, Zakumi will be first on the dancefloor and last off it at the biggest party in the world," Fifa says on its website. "He symbolizes South Africa and the rest of the African continent through his self-confidence, pride, hospitality, social skills and warm-heartedness."
The name "Zakumi" is a composition of "ZA" (South Africa's international country code) and "kumi", a ki-Swahili word that means 10. Since South Africa aims to make 2010 a truly African World Cup, the LOC decided to use a word from a language widely spoken across the continent.
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