The official mascot of EURO 2024 has been unveiled.

The host of EURO 2024, Germany, unexpectedly unveiled the mascot on Tuesday to the surprise of children at an elementary school in Gelsenkirchen. This is also the city where the friendly match between Germany and Colombia took place at the Veltins-Arena. The match ended with a 2-0 victory for the visiting team.

The mascot is a big-headed teddy bear with round eyes, dressed in shorts—a notable improvement by the host country. Recall that at the 2006 World Cup in Germany, they used a lion mascot named Goleo, which was mocked for not wearing pants.

The teddy bear mascot for EURO 2024 is outfitted with a football jersey, socks, and shoes. Currently, the mascot’s name has not been finalized. According to UEFA, they are conducting a vote to choose the mascot’s name with four options: Albärt, Bärnardo, Bärnheart, or Herzi von Bär, with “Bär” meaning “bear” in German. Notably, children were invited to select the name for the teddy bear mascot, and the result is in: the mascot’s name is Albärt, receiving 32 votes.

Sharing his thoughts after the unveiling of the teddy bear mascot, EURO 2024 host representative Philipp Lahm said, “As a parent, I understand the importance of stimulating children’s imagination. With the launch of the mascot, we hope to create a fun and endearing character that will inspire kids to play football.”

The EURO 2024 mascot will begin its MakeMoves journey in schools across Europe, stimulating students’ imaginations to bring the mascot’s activities to life. Children can create their own skills and celebration moves, and EURO 2024 will use motion capture technology to animate these actions for the mascot.

Anthony Rule, the design expert for the EURO 2024 teddy bear mascot, submitted numerous versions, revisions, and held discussions with UEFA before the final design was unveiled. The mascot will soon have a name and will appear in the host cities of EURO 2024 next year, with the tournament taking place from June 14 to July 14, 2024.