Lisbon, Portugal – It’s a very strange job description indeed: Duties – to wear a ridiculous outfit and look even more ridiculous while travelling the world in the lap of luxury, all expenses paid and pretending to be a happy, green coloured leopard who loves football. Requirements: No skills or qualifications needed, must be willing to travel and get hot and uncomfortable, have zero self-image and believe blithely in everything Danny Jordaan tells you about the 2010 World Cup.
Yes, brothers and sisters of the tourism world -Zakumi – the doff-looking green-maned mascot for that rather large soccer tournament we’re hosting next year commenced his official globetrotting with his “handler” Jordaan in the Portuguese capital of Lisbon.
According to Fifa’s marketing director Thierry Weil, Zakumi – whose name is a combination of ZA (for Zuid Afrika, you formerly Dutch ouens) and the word “kumi” which means the number 10 in a number of African languages – the mascot is a key element who represents the spirit of soccer and will play an ambassadorial role at the 2010 World Cup.
Jordaan is even more gushing about the ou in a furry suit: “Zakumi is a proud South African, and as such, an ideal ambassador for the first African World Cup. He is young, energetic and ambitious, a real inspiration for the young and the old, not only in our country, but also across our continent,” he said.
Read the entire post on our sister blog – Travelwires.com
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June 8, 2009 at 3:36 pm
I dont get it, why do you hate Zakumi?
September 22, 2009 at 4:46 pm
Zakumi loves to perform and always follows his instinct and intuition, yet sometimes has the tendency to exaggerate a bit.
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