Mascot for the European Football Championship 2024
Name is sought via online voting
The mascot for the 2024 European Football Championship has not yet been named.
© 2023UEFA
The fans can vote on his name: UEFA is presenting a teddy bear as the mascot of the 2024 European Football Championship.
A good year before the start of the European Football Championship in Germany: UEFA has unveiled the tournament’s official mascot. The choice fell on a teddy bear. The little guy presents himself on Instagram in a short clip. He is due to make his first appearance in the German national team’s friendly against Colombia at Schalke this Tuesday (20 June).
The bear is still nameless. That should be different in two weeks. Until July 3, 2023, fans can participate in a UEFA website vote on the name. Children in UEFA’s Football in Schools program also have a say.
Albart or Bärnardo? Four name suggestions to choose from
There are four suggestions to choose from: Albärt, Bärnardo, Bärnheart and Herzi von Bär. The variants play with the typical German umlaut “ä”, but should nevertheless suggest cosmopolitanism.
Until the start of the European Championship, the bear will be on tour through Europe. As part of a so-called BewegtEuch journey, he aims to encourage children to exercise. The students are supposed to invent football tricks and happy dances that are digitally transferred to the mascot.
“As a father, I know how important it is to encourage children’s imagination,” says ex-national player Phillip Lahm (39). We hope that with our mascot we have created a fun and lovable character that teaches children how to play football,” said the tournament director.
A bear as the EM mascot for the first time
Since the tournament in Italy in 1980 there have also been official mascots at European Championships. But there was never a bear. At the home European Championship in 1988, the hare represented Berni Germany.
Incidentally, those responsible decided on a teddy bear because this toy is said to have been invented in Germany by the Steiff company, although the origin of the first teddy bear is not entirely clear.