Goleo and Pille
Goleo VI was the official mascot of the FIFA World Cup 2006 in Germany. It represented a lion (Latin leo " lion" ), which holds a talking football named pill (Latin pila " ball " ) in your hand.
Goleo
Goleo was wearing a football jersey and yet hosenlos, but equipped with football shoes.
The name contains several football -related puns, on the one hand was indirectly the English word goal ( in other languages also gol, both German Tor) contain ( Goleo → "Goal - eo " ) and on the other hand, the Spanish exclamation Olé ( Goleo → " G- olé -o "). In addition, the name is a mix of the English word "go" (los; go ) and the Latin "leo " (lion), so the name " Goleo " a chant: " Go Leo! " The addition " the Sixth " or "VI" in Roman numerals awakens associations with the World Cup 2006 to King Football.
Furthermore, there exists on the FIFA website, a fictional biography of the figure, thus Goleo got its name when his father allegedly always cheered him playing football with " Go, Leo, Go! ". The title " the Sixth " therefore go back to the fact that the draft of Goleo was presented at the final round of auditions at the official mascot in sixth place.
They played Goleo and pill by four teams of professional puppeteers. As the first cast for Goleo was Martin Paas, who contributes, among other things on Sesame Street. The coordination of Goleo was considered difficult because the outside view is not carried by the usual peepholes, but were transmitted by a camera in Goleos eyes and a camera man, and the images in the interior on an LCD monitor. Despite its body length of 2.30 m, however, was Goleo VI amazingly flexible. This he presented, inter alia, the goal shooting against Franz Beckenbauer and Pelé proof.
The figure appeared in the video for the song Love Generation by Bob Sinclar and Gary ' Nesta ' Pine with which, however, was not the official song for the World Cup. In addition Goleo joined together with Lumidee and Fatman Scoop with the song Dance! on.
Pill
Pill was Goleos speaking companion in the form of a football. The talking ball was moved through a second person by remote control.
The term " pill " ( a corruption of the Latin word for " ball ", " pila " ) designated in the student's language since the 20s of the 20th century slang term for a foot or hand ball. However, the term lost in the last decades of popularity, however, is still common in some parts of Germany.
Production
Goleo was prepared by staff of the Jim Henson Company, which became known by the Muppets and Sesame Street. He is said to have cost around 250,000 € and was unique.
The Frankish toy manufacturer NICI, who was licensed manufacturer of Goleo figures for Europe, filed bankruptcy on May 16, 2006. The low interest in purchasing Goleo - instead of the expected 35 million euros were only revenues of 14 million euros to 3.5 million euros achieved royalties - but was not causally responsible for the insolvency, but is only the already precarious financial situation of the company tightened.
Criticism
In public, the mascot met with little enthusiasm. Especially betting the over turned Goleos appearance at premiere during a broadcast of the television show, dass. on 13 November 2004 was the occasion for scorn and ridicule in the media. TV host Thomas Gottschalk wondered if Goleos grandmother was a Lama, the Süddeutsche Zeitung blasphemed, Goleos cock same " one -hit by Hurricane Palm Florida ," others spoke briefly of the " long misery " or " shaggy cattle". A particularly damning verdict precipitated the designer Erik Spiekermann. In the magazine Der Spiegel, he expressed the opinion, Goleo deserve " penalty points for stupidity ."
The fact that the figure was not wearing any pants, produced in certain countries irritation.
Öko- test tested the Goleo manufactured by NICI for their June 2006 issue, among others, and discovers dibutyltin. Dibutyl tin to protect against fire, however, damages the human immune system and impair fertility.