.jpg){kind=link}
Zabivaka is the official mascot of 2018 FIFA World Cup.
He was unveiled on 21 October 2016, and selected through a design competition among university students. A public vote was used to select the mascot from three finalists—a cat, a tiger, and a wolf. The winner, with 53% or approximately 1 million votes, was Zabivaka—an anthropomorphic gray wolf dressed in the colours of the Russian national team. Zabivaka's name is a portmanteau of the Russian words волк ("wolf") and забивать ("to strike").
Zabivaka has brown and white fur, a T-shirt, and orange goggles - according to the designer, these are not ski goggles, but sports goggles like those used in cycling: "Zabivaka is so fast on the field that he needs eye protection". The red, white and blue are the colors of the Russian national soccer team.