Zakumi Zakumi Zakumi the Leopard was the Official Mascot for the 2010 FIFA World Cup. He is a cheerful, sporty anthropomorphized leopard with green hair, presented on 22 September 2008. His name comes from "ZA", the ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 code for South Africa, and "kumi", a word that means "ten" in several African languages, referencing the year 2010. Za is a code for South Africa and kumi means ten in many African languages so it signifies South Africa 2010. Zakumi the leopard's birth date coincides with a day known and celebrated as Youth Day in South Africa. The group A match
Mascot Some sports teams have "unofficial" mascots: individual supporters or fans that have become identified with the team. The New York Yankees have such an individual in fan Freddy Sez. Former Toronto Blue Jays mascot BJ Birdie was a costumed character created by a Blue Jays fan, ultimately hired by the team to perform at their home games. USC Trojans mascot is Tommy Trojan who rides on his horse (and the official mascot of the school) Traveler. Many sports teams in the United States (U.S.) have official mascots, sometimes enacted by costumed humans or even live animals. One of the earliest