The 2006 FIFA World Cup, hosted in Germany, was officially branded with an emblem known as “Celebrating Faces of Football.” The mark was unveiled on November 19, 2002, at the AufSchalke Arena in Gelsenkirchen, in front of 500 guests of honour and media representatives.[1]
Design and History
The emblem depicts three cheerfully smiling faces grouped around the FIFA World Cup trophy.[1] The three laughing characters sit in coloured circles that form the numbers “006,” referencing the tournament year.[2] The design also integrates a referee’s whistle and German colours, all arranged above the trophy.[3]
FIFA commissioned London-based agency Whitestone to produce the logo, a decision based on the agency’s previous design for the 2002 FIFA World Cup Korea/Japan emblem. Munich-based agency abold was commissioned by the Organising Committee to work alongside Whitestone.[4] The two agencies began collaborating in September 2001, working through dozens of meetings in Munich, London and Zurich before settling on the final concept.[4]
Andreas Abold, proprietor of abold, described the goal: “We wanted to whet the appetite for what will hopefully be an upbeat FIFA World Cup. Our goal was to convey, via a symbol, the incomparable emotions that can only be evoked by football.”[4]
The official slogan accompanying the emblem was “A Time to Make Friends.”[5] Franz Beckenbauer, President of the Organising Committee, said at the unveiling: “We want to welcome fans from around the world as friends in 2006 and celebrate a unique FIFA World Cup in Germany. We believe that the new emblem perfectly expresses our philosophy of having a buoyant, cheerful and carefree tournament in 2006.”[1]
The emblem was not without controversy. Following its unveiling, eleven German design agencies, backed by Germany’s Art Directors Club, announced plans to create an alternative logo after the “three smiling faces” design drew criticism in some media. German design professors Fons Hickmann and Klaus Hesse publicly attacked the logo, with Hesse calling it “simply ridiculous.” A spokesman for the Organising Committee responded that there would be no change of logo, stating: “We are happy with the existing logo.”[6]
Meaning and Symbolism
The three smiling faces were designed to symbolise the numbers “06” for the year of the World Cup, a referee’s whistle and German colours.[3] The cheerful faces were intended to convey the happy nature of the tournament and the hospitality of the host nation.[3]
Fedor Radmann, Vice President of the Organising Committee responsible for marketing and visual identity, said ahead of the unveiling: “The emblem will express our overall philosophy, which is to invite the world to a joyful celebration in the heart of Europe.”[7]
Some elements of the 2002 Korea/Japan emblem, in particular the cup, carried over into the 2006 design and would reappear in future FIFA World Cup logos.[4]
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