Zakumi Pictures - Official Mascot for the 2010 FIFA World Cup Soccer

Zakumi (born 16 June 1994 (age 15)) is the Official Mascot for the 2010 FIFA World Cup. He is an anthropomorphised 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 various African languages. 

 

Zakumi's birthdate coincides with a day known and celebrated as Youth Day in South Africa. The year 1994 marks the first non-racial nationwide elections in South Africa. He will turn 16 in 2010.

The green and yellow (gold) colours of the character match the colours used in South African sport uniforms and can also be seen in the South African National football team's kit. 

Andries Odendaal, created the original character design.

The official motto of Zakumi is: "Zakumi's game is Fair Play."