World Cup 2010 Team Nicknames

February 10th, 2010 | by: Daryl |

world cup 2010 team nicknames It’s time we started getting to know the 32 teams who will compete at World Cup 2010, and what better way to get familiar than with a nickname? Below you’ll find a list of the 32 teams, followed by their most common nickname or nicknames.

Team nicknames usually refer to the colour of the shirt (eg the Azzurri or Les Bleus) or some element of the football association crest (eg The Three Lions). Others are a bit more imaginative (eg The Desert Foxes) and some refer specifically to recent events (eg The Pirate Ship and Olsen’s Eleven). Some may surprise you. Until very very recently I genuinely thought that everyone in Germany referred to the national team as Die Mannschaft. But then I read Jan’s post here and learned that wasn’t true.

For one or two teams below I was either unable to find a translation or explanation for the team nickname (why are Slovakia called the Repre, why are Greece referred to as the Galanoleyki?) ~~or unable to find any nickname at all (looking at you Slovenia)~~. So feedback, corrections and suggestions are all welcome in the comments.

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Algeria – Les Fennecs (The Desert Foxes)
Argentina – Albicelestes (White and Sky blue)
Australia – Socceroos
Brazil – Seleção (The Selection). Also Canarinhos (Little Canary) and Verde e Amarelo (Green and Yellow).
Cameroon – Lions Indomptables (Indomitable Lions)
Chile – La Roja (The Red)
Cote d’Ivoire – Les Éléphants (The Elephants)
Denmark – Olsens Elleve (Olsen’s Eleven) – In honour of popular head coach Morten Olsen.
England – The Three Lions – From the FA crest.
France – Les Bleus (The Blues)
Germany – National Mannschaft (National Team) or DFB Elf (DFB Eleven) or National Elf (National Eleven). The nickname Die Mannschaft (the team) is only used by non-German media.
Ghana – The Black Stars
Greece – To Piratiko (The Pirate Ship) – Since Euro 2004. But another common nickname is apparently Galanoleyki, though I have no idea what that means.
Honduras – Los Catrachos which is apparently how other Central Americans refer to Hondurans. Also La H (The H) – The crest is a large H, which looks extremely cool on the shirt..
Italy – Azzurri (Sky Blues)
Japan – Blue Samurai
Mexico – El Tri (after the three colours or “tricolor” on the Mexican flag).
Netherlands – Oranje
North Korea – Chollima (some sort of mythical horse)
New Zealand – All Whites (rugby union team are the All Blacks)
Nigeria – Super Eagles
Paraguay – La Albirroja (The White-Red) or Guaraní (an indigenous people)
Portugal – Selecção das Quinas (Team of the Five Shields) – Referring to the five shields on the FA crest. I think.
Serbia – Beli Orlovi (White Eagles) – Referring to the white double headed eagle on the Serbia coat of arms.
Slovakia – Repre (at least according to Wikipedia, but there’s no explanation as to what this means).
Slovenia – Zmajceki (Dragons) – Because there’s a dragon on the crest of capital city Ljubljana.
South Africa – Bafana Bafana (The Boys)
South Korea – Taeguk Warriors. Fans are often called The Red Devils.
Spain – La Furia Roja (Red Fury)
Switzerland – Schweizer Nati
United States – Often referred to as the MNT (Men’s National Team) or The Yanks.
Uruguay – La Celeste (The Sky Blue)

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tony

The MNT!? The Yanks!
Mark

Good article, except USA’s nickname is the Stars and Stripes…not the MNT
Mark

or the Yanks
Albo

Brazil are also known as “Canarinha”, in reference to a little yellow bird.
Many also call Brazil “The Scratch” for obvious reasons.
Coconut

I think Spain has the best nickname.

La Furia! sounds intimidating!
Quini

United States – The Spazzos
http://freewebs.com/imbapb Bajro Slatina

Slovenia – Zmajceki (dragons,or deminutive for dragons,90% sure of that…hope you’ll find it useful)… Greeting from Serbia!
Go Slovenian brothers :D
http://www.seethecup.com/2010-world-cup/update-world-cup-tickets/ Bruno Romani

Don’t agree with Brazil’s nickname. In Brazil, any national team is called “Seleção”, and this is the best translation. As someone pointed out, Seleção canarinha would be a nickname.
http://seattle.theoffside.com laurie

I think before Euros our Germany blogger Jan said that in Germany “Die Mannschaft” was used only by bilingual German/English speakers who needed a naughty-sounding double entendre. ;-)
dinos

Galanoleyki means blue and white, the colors of our national flag.
el_horse

Repre in slovakian is short for ‘the national team’
http://fulham.theoffside.com timmyg

Why don’t us Yanks call ourselves The Doughboys?

It’s historical and somewhat tongue-in-cheek. I like it.
Jonas

Italy: Lippi’s lovers
http://houston.theoffside.com Jeremy

MNT is for Men’s National Team? I thought it was Mutant Ninja Turtles.
http://bundesliga.theoffside.com Jan

“Switzerland – Schweizer Nati”

Or just Nati. In German when you pronounce national the ti is pronounced zi – the Swiss preserved this peculiarity in the shortened version. Always funny listening to Swiss commentators affectionately talking about their Nazi. :-)
Tom

I’m a bit worried about the New Zealand team’s nickname.

‘All-Whites’ has a particular meaning in South Africa.
The Troll

Socceroos? A team with such a nickname should not be even allowed to enter the tournament.
http://nz.worldcupblog.org Craig

@ Tom – Haha yeah thats already been mentioned here in NZ – The NZ Herald ran with the headline “All Whites to South Africa” after we qualified, and it just did feel right.
hawk

A rose is a rose is a rose.
And a Troll is a troll is a troll is a troll.
Albo

Uruguay is also known as “La Garra Uruguaya”
kmmak2000

All-Whites, any NZ guy can tell really all whites? May be just the jerseys are white. Any players are aboriginal? NZ fans shall tell something.

The best nick name is of course “Kiwi”. Kiwi is a fruit. And Kiwi always stands for NZ.

Kiwis
Tom

I’m not sure about the current new Zealand team, but there used to be a decent Maori midfielder called Harry Ngata who now works as a commentator.

In this part of the world ‘Kiwi’ has become such a common term for a New Zealander that its almost not a nickname anymore. ‘New Zealender’ is a bit of a mouthful to be fair.

@The Troll: I’m actually quite fond of the Socceroos as a nickname. There’s something very Australian about slightly tongue in cheek sporting names, plus the history of ’soccer’ struggling against the major ‘football’ codes in this country is something worth recognising, I think.
Felix

There is nothing racial implied by NZ’s the All Whites- it refers simply to the white uniforms, like the All Blacks play rugby union in all black uniforms.
To imply that there are any racist connotations with the name is to look for racism where it simply is not.
Felix

Oh and All Whites is a reference to the rugby team, both are known by their nickname more commonly than by any other name.
New Zealand has similar nicknames for all sporting teams (Silver Ferns-netball, Tall Blacks-basketball, Black Sticks- Hockey etc)
Pseudinho

Honduras is often times called Los Catrachos
United States is often caled The Yanks
tom

I think Brazil have another nickname. Cariocas (or something like that).
http://www.assyriska.theoffside.com Luka

Hmm let’s see.. Footballroos & All Races. No thanks, I’ll still to Socceroos and All Whites thanks.
http://www.assyriska.theoffside.com Luka

*stick* not “still”…
George

I am not sure if it was already mentioned. Greece has that nickname because of the color of our flag. Blue and white. Galano translates to blue. Leuko translates to white. Galano-leukoi. Blue-white.
morpheus

The US needs a better nickname. MNT is really lame.
Daryl

Shouldn’t the USMNT be called the Yank’s…like always?
Jon

The US is not simply “MNT”! While I refer to the Men’s National Team formally, the most common nickname I use and hear is “The Yanks”.

Wikipedia has a decent, but incomplete, listing of nicknames:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_national_football_(soccer)_teams_by_nickname
http://loltennis.wordpress.com/ alhm

“I think Brazil have another nickname. Cariocas (or something like that).”

No, Cariocas are called the residents of Rio de Janeiro (city).

But yes, ‘Seleção Canarinho’ is one nickname, though we almost don’t use it anymore, it was more popular in the 70s. We mostly call our nt simply ‘A Seleção’ (as in the article – The Selection).
Igor

I’m not sure if its an official nickname but the Slovenian team are called Zmajceki (Dragons) in all former Yugoslavian republics.
http://www.africa.com sm8019

New Zealand should just be the ‘all blacks’ like in rugby – http://www.africa.com
http://www.africa.com sm8019

‘all whites’ for new zealand just doesn’t sound right and isn’t intimidating, not that soccer has anything to do with intimidation. But I’d still go over the historical ‘all blacks’ over ‘all whites’
bawambi

I always refer the the Stars and Stripes as the “Nats” and the U-17’s as the “Baby Nats” and have never heard any other nickname. Yanks would be like the German nickname that is only used by others – a yank or yankee is a northerner in the south and a New Englander in the north which includes New York State btw – hence yankee beans, the NY Yankees (baseball) or the defunct Boston Yankees football (gridiron) team.
shipwork

Los Catrachos for Honduras, nickname for their general’s men who came back victorious in a minor battle when some pro-slavery Americans came down to re-establish plantations in Honduras. A nice history lesson.
http://www.worldcupblog.org Daryl

Thanks all. Have made a few updates and corrections to the list based on the great response in the comments.
essence

For Brazil, doesn’t “Verde e Amarelo” mean “Green and Yellow” rather than “Gold and Yellow”. In any case, that would refer more to the flag than the strip, which is yellow and blue… Maybe one of the brazilian posters would care to explain further.
http://www.PenleyGlobalLaw.com Al

Azzurri is ’sky blue’ blu is blue- in Italian. Or, basically, the Sky-Blues. FORZA AZZURRI- fyi
http://www.worldcupblog.org Daryl

@essence,

You’re correct, it does mean “green and yellow”. The “gold and yellow” was a lazy typo on my part. It’s been corrected.

@Al,

I wasn’t sure which it was, but have since changed it to Sky Blue.
namuwood

okay USA fans thanks for dropping the ball….the usa fans are called Sam’s Army….bcuz they often dress as uncle sam and because the fan contingent is heavily US soldiers when we play overseas….the team is also sometimes refered to by this same name. the rest of the world calls us the yanks the press uses MNT. But we fans mostly just call them USA or team USA.
Brunopolis

Uruguay is called “los charruas” when playing in South America although generally world-wide they get called “La celeste”.
sarah clark

i think ghana’s nickname is almighty stars
http://theseasonticketsnetwork.com/?page_id=915 everett

if you want tickets to the events in south africa next year, put in for your tickets now. i’ve heard that over 500,000 tickets have already been sold. dont miss out on your chance. for die-hard football fans only.
Bergo

For Switzerland also Rossocrociati in italian, it means red with a cross; in french is la Nati.
http://italy.theoffside.com Francesco

I would say that even though the Italian National Team is always called “Gli Azzurri”, they are more popularly referred to by the Italian media as “La Nazionale” (the National Team). The Azzurri are the players, while the Nazionale is the team itself, if that makes sense. Like an article will say “Here are the 23 Azzurri called up to the Nazionale”.
http://viajeromundialista.com Deluxe

Mexico is also known locally as “La Selección” (The Selection).

Argentina is also called “La Albiceleste” both in South America and by Argentinians themselves.

As for Germany, it should read “Nationalmannschaft”, it’s a single word.
http://corinthians.theoffside.com/ Hector

Honduras are also called La Bicolor a lot as well.
aek

For Greece galanoleyki comes from our flag colours.Galano=blue and leyki=white
Sid

The “La albiceleste” nickname for Argentina is generally used by the foreign media. In Argentina the national team is called “La Seleccion”.
http://www.no1fan.co.uk Football Gifts

How come England don’t have a nickname?
sp

for slovakia:
“repre” is an abbreviation of “representation team” – (the team which presents and acts on behalf of the slovak nation)
“reprezentacny tim” in slovak (sorry for missing accents)