sport news World Cup Qatar 2022: Ranking ALL 15 of the previous mascots trends now
It wouldn't be a World Cup without a mascot on hand to help make the tournament a bit more colourful and fun outside the blood and thunder of the competition.
They haven't always been successful over the years though, and that includes the latest announced for Qatar, with La'eeb the ghutra dividing supporters.
But where does La'eeb feature on a list that includes a set of Italian blocks, a Mexican pepper with a sombrero and of course the English star who started it all? Sportsmail ranks every single World Cup mascot from down the years.
Ato, Kaz, and Nik struggled to inspire during the World Cup in South Korea and Japan
There was lots of great things about the 2002 World Cup - these three certainly were not among them. Having three mascots in general seemed excessive and the fact they needed a backstory about a being involved in a team names 'The Spheriks' to make them vaguely interesting was just eye rolling stuff.
To many they were just three aliens looking out of place. A good sign of a successful World Cup mascot is if many still remember their name years later. Sadly for these three barely anyone knew (or cared about) their names even during the tournament.
14. Juanito (Mexico, 1970)It's a classic World Cup, with one of the most famous finals of the lot as Pele's last dance saw his all-star Brazil side defeat Italy 4-1 in the final.
But who remembers the mascot from the tournament? No surprises if you don't - it wasn't exactly inspiring stuff.
A kid called Juanito with a sombrero wearing a Mexican kit and a football on hand helped fill the task.
It really wouldn't have been a surprise if they had only thought of the idea on the eve of the tournament.
Juanito (left) of Mexico and Gauchito of Argentina were based on very similar concepts
There's very little in it choosing who should rank higher out of Gauchito and Juanito, because in terms of concepts they are totally identical mascots.
Gauchito gets the very slight nod though, Juanito should have been a little bit more famous given the popularity of the World Cup competition he came from, Gauchito didn't have the same opportunity eight years later in one of the very few 20th century tournaments not to feature either Germany or Brazil in the final.
12. Tip and Tap (West Germany, 1974)Seeing a 1970s pattern here? A truly bad era for mascots. West Germany though at least tried something different with their human based versions by having a double act with a football related nickname. It's at least a good start for a pitch.
But it still just doesn't quite grab the imagination - not helped by the duo just looking like a couple of gormless buffoons. The tournament itself though did provide a better unique concept as being the first to feature the current World Cup trophy after Brazil were given the original Jules Rimet prize to keep after winning it three times.
Mini Tip and Tap figurines are placed with the World Cup ball inside Munich's Olympiastadion
At least some imagination was used by it not being a human, and there is noticeable cultural significance in that La'eeb takes the form of the popular headdress of the region, the ghutra.
Sadly though, La'eeb still looks quite bland and in some aspects looks just like a ghost the way it hovers and flies everywhere. Swing and a miss I'm afraid.
La'eeb is the newest edition of World Cup mascots having been chosen to feature in Qatar
Spain at least got the imagination ball rolling once again after a series of human mascots, with Naranjito. Granted, it was still based on a character wearing a football kit holding a football, but at least they had the idea to turn it into an orange first.
It was a more cartoon based mascot, but it does lose marks for how ridiculous it looked when it was brought to life during the tournament, with the human limbs sticking out of a big orange suit. It looked like it had dropped out from the sky on to some poor unfortunate soul.
Spain featured an orange for its 1982 edition, although the concept appeared better in cartoon
We are starting to get into the realms of the serious mascots now - unless that is an oxymoron for this subject.
Striker was a good concept for a 'World Cup goes to America' episode. As a happy looking dog its design had a clear appeal to a younger audience and it perhaps doesn't get as much as love as it should do.
USA '94 not being a classic perhaps hindered Striker, especially with the tournament having the first goalless final and being bookended by missed penalties from Diana Ross and Roberto Baggio. We are still debating now which was worse.
Striker was perhaps one of the more underrated mascots after featuring at USA '94
Whether by design or chance, there is a deserved nod to Germany for embracing the double act partnership they had attempted with Tip and Tip 32 years prior - although they perhaps tried too hard with the name this time.
Marks
