"Serious sport has nothing to do with fair play…it is war minus the shooting."
Nicknames
According to the Official book of the World Cup*, all 32 countries have a nickname. The nicknames can refer to the colours of the team, an animal associated with the country or a characteristic of the country.Some of the nicknames are commonly used – like “The indominitable lions” for Cameroon or “The Elephants” for Cote d’Ivoire. My favourite nickname is “the Socceroos” (Australian) – no other country could claim that one.
Some nicknames come home to roost. Calling your team “indominitable” can be a bit embarrassing if they lose all their games. France are “Les bleus” – shame they played in white in two of their first three games! Ecuador is allegedly called “La Tricolour”- OK but what about all the other countries whose flag has three colours? In fact I saw “Les bleus” play “La Tricolour” – that I is I saw France (“Les Bleus”), playing in white against Ecuador (La Tricolour) – shame that France’s flag is also in three colours!
The most banal nicknames are “Die Mannschaft” [The team] for Germany and La Nati [The nation] for Switzerland – if either really counts as a nickname. Calling the USA “The stars and stripes” is also a bit unimaginative.
England is allegedly called “The three Lions” – of course there are the proverbial three lions on a shirt but a nickname?
I would suggest that about half the teams have real nicknames and the rest have been invented for marketing purposes.
The full list of nicknames
(
100 kbs )
* 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil, Official book, London, Carlton books, 2014.
Photo: Getty Images for Sony