Merch, Emotional Recall, and the 1998 World Cup

As I look at the new mascot plush toys for this year’s World Cup, I remember my very own Footix plush and am transported back in time.

It’s 1998. I’m 8 years old. The World Cup is taking place in Paris. Against all odds France is going to the final against Brazil.

Brazil… the giant. The reigning world champion. A team full of global superstars, led by Ronaldo, the greatest striker in the world.

It was France’s first World Cup final in history and at the time analysts overwhelmingly predicted a Brazil win. Typical odds were roughly: Brazil win: ~1.7, Draw: ~3.0, France win: ~4.0. Brazil was expected to dominate, Ronaldo to score, and France to struggle. But reality took a completely different turn.

Defying all expectations, France beat Brazil 3-0. 

The nation went from shock and disbelief to a euphoric explosion of ecstatic joy and national pride. The final felt unbelievable at the time. It made the French people feel united, invincible, and profoundly connected — an iconic, historic moment in French and sports history.

The 1998 team with Zinédine Zidane, Didier Deschamps, Lilian Thuram, Marcel Desailly, Laurent Blanc, Emmanuel Petit, Youri Djorkaeff, Bixente Lizarazu, Fabien Barthez, and Thierry Henry, became more than a team. They became an embodiment of the best version of France itself. Nicknamed the “black-blanc-beur” team, they were celebrated as the symbol of a multicultural nation united around a shared dream. For one luminous summer, they made millions of French people believe that football could transcend sport — that it could become a moment of collective identity, hope, and joy.

To every French person who lived through the 1998 World Cup, the electric experience of collective victory and glory, the transcendent feeling of belonging to something bigger all still live in every cell of our bodies. To me, Footix holds the charge of that moment, a national memory, the feeling of a country briefly lifted out of itself.

I can’t help but think about the little boys and girls who will experience the World Cup this year, and unknowingly tuck that feeling into a sacred plush — a soft little relic that, years later, may recall not just the tournament, but the exact texture of wonder.

These plush mascots can be so much more than just merchandise. They speak to the power of merch to bring the heart and essence of a brand like FIFA to life.

Because isn’t that what soccer and global sports are all about — a reminder of our shared humanity, a place where joy, heartbreak, unity, and pride all coexist in one collective breath.