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Football Notes: 2018 World Cup Names Zabivaka The Wolf Official Mascot

Zabivaka the wolf followed in the footsteps of Naranjito the orange, Footix the football-playing rooster and Fuleco the armadillo "by being named as the official mascot of the 2018 World Cup on Saturday." FIFA described its latest creation, unveiled during a live TV show in the presence of Russian Deputy PM Vitaly Mutko and former Brazil striker Ronaldo, as "a wolf who radiates fun, charm and confidence." The wolf, whose name according to FIFA means "the one who scores", received 53% of the more than one million votes cast in a poll, beating a tiger (27%) and a cat (20%) (REUTERS, 10/22).

New football-based sport Teqball was officially launched in Budapest. The table-based game has already signed a number of ambassadors, including Brazilian Ronaldinho, who was present at the presentation. Teqball, a Hungarian invention, "is based around a specially-engineered curved table, can be played indoor and outdoor, and is designed as a training tool suitable for professional footballers as well as amateur enthusiasts, as well as being a game in its own right." Created by Gabor Borsanyi, the business brains behind Teqball come from the multi-national Docler Group which employs more than 1,000 people worldwide, with offices in L.A., Hong-Kong, Luxembourg and in Budapest, Hungary. Chair Andras Somkuti "has led the project from their end" (INSIDE WORLD FOOTBALL, 10/18).

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