The Ivory Coast’s ‘Papa Elephant’ is the greatest unofficial mascot in a homemade elephant costume

The Ivory Coast beat Senegal to qualify for the 2014 World Cup (with a bit of help from Didier Drogba's overhead clearance at the goal line). This pleased their devoted unofficial mascot, PAPA ELEPHANT — the greatest unofficial mascot in the world.

PAPA ELEPHANT, whose costume looks like it was made from remnants of George Costanza's Gore-Tex coat and MC Hammer's parachute pants (with an elephant head, of course), has been supporting the national team for years now, staving off heat stroke at every turn.

We can only hope that PAPA ELEPHANT makes the trip to Brazil for the World Cup next summer. Because in an age where so much about international football is corrupted and sinister, PAPA ELEPHANT represents all that is good and pure in the game.

Come to Papa.

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Brooks Peck

is the editor of Dirty Tackle on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him or follow on Twitter!

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