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World Cup 2014: A look at every nation’s slogan

USA Fans, USMNT Fans

Photo by ISIPhotos.com

By DAN KARELL

For every international tournament these days, there’s a slogan that accompanies it and the groups participating. The World Cup this year is no different.

FIFA chose the slogan “All in one rhythm” for Brazil 2014. Per FIFA General Secretary Jerome Valcke, this slogan was picked because, “it will unite fans in Brazil and abroad, around what will be a colorful and vibrant celebration set to a uniquely Brazilian rhythm.”

This year, the U.S. Men’s National Team will head to Brazil carried by the slogan “United by team, driven by passion.” U.S. Soccer has also been using the hashtag #1N1T, which stands for one nation, one team, in tweets about the World Cup. Past USMNT slogans have included “Life, liberty, and the pursuit of victory!” (2010) and “United we play, united we win,” (2006).

Here’s a look at all 32 participating nations’ slogans for the 2014 World Cup:

2014 WORLD CUP SLOGANS

Algeria
Official slogan: “Desert Warriors In Brazil” / محاربي الصحراء فى البرازيل (Arabic)

Argentina
Official slogan: “Not Just A Team, We Are A Country”/ “No Somos un Equipo, Somos un País”

Australia
Official slogan: “Socceroos: Hopping Our Way Into History!”

Belgium
Official slogan: “Expect The Impossible!” / “Verwacht je aan het onmogelijke!” (Dutch) / “Attendez-vous à L’impossible” (French)

Bosnia and Herzegovina
Official slogan: “Dragons in Heart, Dragons on the Field!” / Zmajevi U Scru…Zmajevi Na Terenu! (Bosnian)

Brazil
Official slogan: “Brace Yourselves! The Sixth is Coming!” / Preparem-Se! O Hexa Esta Chegando! (Portuguese)

Cameroon
Official slogan: “A Lion Remains A Lion” / Un Lion Demure un Lion (French)

Chile
Official slogan: “Chi Chi Chi!, Le Le Le! Go Chile!”

Colombia
Official slogan: “Here Travels A Nation, Not Just A Team!” / Aqui no Viaja un Equipo, ¡Viaja Todo un Pais! (Spanish)

Costa Rica
Official Slogan: “My Passion Is Football, My Strength Is My People, My Pride Is Costa Rica” / Mi Pasion el Fútbol, Mi Fortaleza Mi Gente, Mi Orgullo, Costa Rica (Spanish)

Croatia
Official slogan: With Fire in Our Hearts, For Croatia All as One! / S Vatrom U Srcima Za Hrvatsku Svi Kao Jedan! (Croatian)

Ecuador
Official slogan: “One Commitment, One Passion, Only One Heart, This Is For You Ecuador!” / “Un Compromiso, Una Pasión, Un Solo Corazón, ¡Va Por Ti Ecuador” (Spanish)

England
Official slogan: “The Dream Of One Team, The Heartbeat Of Millions!!”

France
Official slogan: “Impossible Is Not A French Word” / “Impossible N’est Pas Francais” (French)

Germany
Official slogan: “One Nation, One Team, One Dream!” / “Ein Land, Eine Mannschaft, Ein Traum” (German)

Ghana
Official slogan: Black Stars: Here To Illuminate Brazil

Greece
Official slogan: “Heroes Play Like Greeks” / “Οι ήρωες παίζουν όπως οι Έλληνες” (Greek)

Honduras
Official slogan: “We Are One Country, One Nation, Five Stars On The Heart” / “Somos Un Pueblo, Una Nacion, Cinco Estrellas de Corazon” (Spanish)

Iran
Official slogan: “Honor Of Persia” / افتخار پارس (Farsi)

Italy
Official slogan: “Let’s Paint The FIFA World Cup Dream Blue” / “Coloriamo D’Azzurro Il Sogno Mondiale” (Italian)

Ivory Coast
Official slogan: “Elephants Charging Towards Brazil!” / “Les Éléphants a la Conquête Du Brésil” (French)

Japan
Official slogan: “Samurai, The Time Has Come To Fight!” / サムライよ!! 戦いの時はきた! (Japanese)

Mexico
Official slogan: “Always United, Always Aztecas” / “Siempre Unidos, ¡Siempre Aztecas!” (Spanish)

Netherlands
Official slogan: “Real Men Wear Orange” / “Echte Mannen Dragen Oranje” (Dutch)

Nigeria
Official slogan: “Only Together We Can Win”

Portugal
Official slogan: “The Past Is History, The Future Is Victory” / “O Passado é História, O Futuro é a Vitória” (Portuguese)

Russia
Official slogan: “No One Can Catch Us” / “Нас не догонят” (Russian)

South Korea
Official slogan: “Enjoy It, Reds!” / 즐겨라, 대한민국! (Korean)

Spain
Official slogan: “Inside Our Hearts, The Passion Of A Champion” / “En Nuestro Corazón, La Pasión de un Campeón” (Spanish)

Switzerland
Official slogan: “Final Stop: 07-13-14 Maracana!” / “Arret Final: 07-13-14 Maracana! (French)

Uruguay
Official slogan: “Three Million Dreams…Let’s Go Uruguay” / “Tres millones de ilusiones… ¡vamos Uruguay!” (Spanish)

United States
Official slogan: “United By Team, Driven By Passion”

Comments

  1. There is alot of potential material here for new tattoos for our bigmouth “superstars” like Howard the tattooed man and Dempsey, too.!

    Look guys, some of these slogans would make excellent tats! Don’t forget to post pics of you gettin new ink on instagram.

    Such hard men, struttin around that Stanford campus with those bad tats, roflmao omg.

    I’m gonna be like a real gang banger and get me a tear on my forearm, a tear for Landon Donovan. What a disgrace what Klinsi just did. Klinsi is a p.o.s.

    Reply
  2. The French slogan works better in French “Impossible n’est pas Francais”,
    one irony is that translated into English “Impossible is not French”, it sounds just like the French,
    or “Il n’est pas une pipe im fumer” trans: “this is not a pipe, I’m smoking?”.
    Love Japan, “Samurai, the time is now!”.
    Ivory Coast, “the Elephants are coming!”
    And finally no matter how ridiculous it sounds we’re all going to get that
    “Chi Chi Chi Le Le Le, Go Chile!”, stuck in our heads for a little while.

    Reply
  3. If the final has its own specific slogan that’s a combo of the two sides:

    Holland v. Australia: Real mean hopping to victory on orange kangaroos.

    Nigeria v. England: Only Together We Can Win. !!.

    (next…)

    Reply
  4. United States
    Official slogan: “United By Team, Driven By Passion” / “Soccer is for communists, pansies and (homophobic slur redacted)! Pass me the Busch Light and turn on American Idol” (American)

    Reply
  5. Brazil’s slogan is reflective of their MASSIVE ego which I hope to see severely deflated at some point in this tournament. Can’t stand Brazil. Go USA!

    Reply
  6. I think the most inspiring are Costa Rica, Croatia and the US, with Germany also close. I got a kick out of France’s “Impossible is not a French word” and Holland’s “Real men wear orange.”

    Reply
      • ——————————Hastings———————-
        McCoy——————Saracen—————Smash
        ———————Cafferty——————————–
        ——————————————Riggins————
        Jamarcus——–Tinker——-Landry——-Santiago
        ———————Howard (Vince)——————–

        Can’t lose!

  7. France: United to get through a World Cup without a players revolt.

    England: One team, Five missed penalties in the quarterfinal.

    Greece: Heroes play like Greeks, Greeks play like Stole City.

    Switzerland: fFinal Stop 7-13-14 Matacana, can anyone get us tickets?

    United Stated: One Team, Driven by Dual Nationals.

    Reply
  8. When I was in France during the WC06, there was a song that played constantly: Zidane il va marquer — Zidane Will Score. Just an awful awful song.

    Reply
  9. I highly doubt England’s really ends with two exclamation marks.

    *googles it, finds FIFA page with official slogans, confirms double exclamation, applies palm to face*

    Reply
    • For the English, two exclamation points is equivalent to running around naked in front of the White House while wearing a tin foil hat and screaming, “The president is a lizard!”

      Reply
  10. You forgot Pawnee’s World Cup slogan:

    “Eating our way into the future!”

    (We don’t really watch soccer in Pawnee, so that slogan is for the Cheeseburger World Cup we’re hosting this summer, sponsored by Paunch Burger.)

    Reply
  11. Actual translations from a native speaker:
    Argentina
    Official slogan: “Dont steal our equipment, steal our peas”/ “No Somos un Equipo, Somos un País”

    Brazil
    Official slogan: “Prepare yourselves! A hex is placed upon your changepurse!” / Preparem-Se! O Hexa Esta Chegando! (Portuguese)

    Cameroon
    Official slogan: “A demure lion” / Un Lion Demure un Lion (French)

    Colombia
    Official slogan: “Do not put water in our equipment, put toads in our peas !” / Aqui no Viaja un Equipo, ¡Viaja Todo un Pais! (Spanish)

    Croatia
    Official slogan: Voltron! Chima! Go Jayden!! / S Vatrom U Srcima Za Hrvatsku Svi Kao Jedan! (Croatian)

    France
    Official slogan: “It is impossible to make a nest out of peas in france” / “Impossible N’est Pas Francais” (French)

    Germany
    Official slogan: “One land, one man’s shaft, in the buttocks” / “Ein Land, Eine Mannschaft, Ein Traum” (German)

    Iran
    Official slogan: “Death to America” / افتخار پارس (Farsi)

    Netherlands
    Official slogan: “Eight man-dragons are orange” / “Echte Mannen Dragen Oranje” (Dutch)

    Nigeria
    Official slogan: “Only Together We Can Win”

    United States
    Official slogan: “Please let us beat Ghana!”

    Reply
  12. Just to clarify: these slogans were not submitted by the soccer federations. Hyundai and FIFA organized an online poll for fans to vote on submissions from fans. (Well, supposedly from fans. We all know Qatar came up with all of these.)

    Reply
  13. Its hard to make a slogan like this without being generic or corny. I’m a big fan of Bosnia’s and Cameroon’s

    Reply
    • Seriously. Ummm…..you just put it in your slogan….clearly it is a word.

      How about something like, “A word to describe something that can not exist does not have a French equivalent.” It would still be wrong, but not prima facie wrong.

      Reply
    • The person that miss-translated the phrase for this article. It would be better translated as, “Impossible is not French.”

      Reply
    • The problem seems to be more with the translation – literally, the slogan means “Impossible is not French,” so it could also be translated “Impossible is not a French concept” or “The idea ‘impossible’ is not meaningful to the French” or something along those lines.

      I’m not a scholar of the language, but I read it with a sense similar to that of the “Impossible is nothing” campaign that (I think) Adidas ran some years ago.

      Reply
  14. I think Dan left out part of Mexico’s slogan. I believe the actual slogan reads thusly: “Always United (States bails us out), Always Aztecas.”

    Reply
  15. LOVE BOSNIA’s. I feel like they should star in “The Game of Thrones”:

    “Dragons in Heart, Dragons on the Field!” / Zmajevi U Scru…Zmajevi Na Terenu! (Bosnian)

    Reply
      • It was a last-minute submission. Organizers forgot that Chile was in the tournament and had to jot something down during the press release.

      • It actually a very popular chant in Chile. whether at a futbol game or in the street. It actually should end with Vive Chile!!! hence it rhymes and has a foot stop at the end.

      • I like it better now. Still I don’t think it is a slogan.

        Chanting “U.S.A., U.S.A., U.S.A.” wouldn’t qualify either

    • As a kid growing up with everything Chileno I can tell you this chant is not new. As Spectra said this is chanted all the time at games and parades etc.

      KingGoog: Pretty funny. Chile may be overlooked in COMBEBOL but this years team is very good. I expect them to advance as the number two team from their group after Spain. The Netherlands are going to get steamrolled by Chile even though and I can’t wait.

      Reply
  16. Really fascinating. I love the tongue-in-cheek banter between Belgium and France’s slogans. Some of these may be a little strange to English-speaking ears (like Russia and Korea), but I’m sure they translate perfectly to the native speakers.

    Reply
  17. With an Uncle and cousins who are Australian so I’m saying this with love…they shouldn’t even be allowed in the World Cup for making that silly of a slogan.

    Reply
  18. “A team’s slogan doesn’t necessarily have an effect on how they play on the field,”

    Thanks for making that clear.

    Reply

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