Meet Finnie, the Unicorn mascot of the Commonwealth Games 2026

Despite stepping in at the last moment, Glasgow, Scotland is leaving no stones unturned to make the Commonwealth Games 2026 a memorable one. While they made sure that King Charles and Camilla had a grand entry at the Opening Ceremony through Doctor Who’s Tardis, they have also made sure that the games have a cute official mascot who wins hearts the moment one looks at it. To fulfil this criterion, Scotland decided to go ahead with its National Animal- the Unicorn. And the mascot is a colour, cheerful, quirky and playful unicorn called Finnie.  

How does Finnie encompass the Scottish culture?

Finnie the she-unicorn is the Commonwealth Games 2026’s official mascot and she comprises the Scottish nuances in her like no other. From the start, the fact that she is a unicorn, which is the National animal of the country says a lot about the well-curated process of choosing the mascot. Second, Finnie is just a short name for Finnieston Crane, which is one of the most popular riverside of Scotland, one that sees thousands of locals and tourists visiting each year.

Third, combining some Scottish humour to the situation, one would find Finnie sporting a traffic corn instead of the regular fancy one horn that a unicorn is supposed to sport. This is a direct reference to the traffic cone which has been in place on the head of the Duke of Wellington’s statue for years.  Fourth, her purple mane portrays the city’s events at the OVO Hydro. Furthermore, the OVO Hydro hosted the Opening Ceremony, a first indoor opening in the history of the Commonwealth Games. Fifth, the flash on her shoes is a reference to Scotland’s rich ship-building heritage. Sixth, its colours grey, purple, pink and blue encompass the colours associated with Scotland and the Commonwealth Games.

Who designed Finnie?  

While it is not uncommon to hire professionals to design the official mascot of global events, Scotland viewed it differently. They involved 76 school children from over 24 schools, deemed them as Mascot Makers and let their imagination flow while creating something globally recognisable. A mascot is supposed to appear in a way that it brings a smile to people’s faces and also makes way to their photographs. These children did exactly that by designing a colourful mascot, of course, with the able mentorship of the experts. This is also a brilliant way to engage the future of the country with the Games.

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