 The trophy | |
| Awarded for | Winning theFIFA World Cup |
|---|---|
| Presented by | FIFA |
| History | |
| First award | 1930 (Jules Rimet Trophy) 1974 (FIFA World Cup Trophy) |
| First winner |
|
| Most wins |  Brazil (5 times) |
| Most recent |  Argentina (3rd title,2022) |
| Website | fifa.com |
TheFIFA World Cup is a goldentrophy that is awarded to the winners of theFIFA World Cupassociation football tournament. Since the advent of the World Cup in 1930, two different trophies have been used: theJules Rimet Trophy from 1930 to 1970, and thereafter theFIFA World Cup Trophy from 1974 to the present day. The production cost of the current trophy is estimated at $242,700.[1]
The first trophy, originally namedVictory, but later renamed in honor ofFIFA presidentJules Rimet, was made of gold platedsterling silver and alapis lazuli base. It depictedNike, the Greek goddess of victory.Brazil was awarded the trophy in perpetuity following their third title in 1970, prompting the commissioning of a replacement. The original Jules Rimet Trophy was stolen in 1983 and has never been recovered.
The subsequent trophy, called the "FIFA World Cup Trophy", was introduced in1974. Made of 18 karat gold with bands ofmalachite on its base, it stands 36.8 centimetres (14.5 in) high and weighs 6.175 kilograms (13.61 lb).[2] The trophy was made by theGDE Bertoni company in Italy.[3] It depicts two human figures holding up the Earth. The current holders of the trophy areArgentina, winners of the2022 World Cup. The trophy is kept at theFIFA World Football Museum in Zürich, Switzerland, and leaves there only on select occasions. World Cup winners receive a gold-plated bronze replica, which they possess until the next World Cup final and in perpetuity if they have won it three times.[4]
Only a selected few are officially allowed to touch the trophy with bare hands, includingplayers andmanagers who have won the competition, heads of state, and FIFA officials.[5]
TheJules Rimet Cup was the original trophy of theFIFA World Cup. Originally called "Victory", but generally known simply as theWorld Cup orCoupe du Monde, it was renamed in 1946 to honour theFIFA President Jules Rimet, who in 1929 passed a vote to initiate the competition. It was designed by French sculptorAbel Lafleur and made of gold-plated sterling silver on alapis lazuli base.[6] In 1954 the base was replaced with a taller version to accommodate more winners' details. It stood 35 centimetres (14 in) high and weighed 3.8 kilograms (8.4 lb).[7] It comprised a decagonal cup, supported by a winged figure representingNike, the ancient Greek goddess of victory. The Jules Rimet Trophy was taken to Uruguay for the first FIFA World Cup aboard theConte Verde, which set sail fromVillefranche-sur-Mer, just southeast ofNice, in June 1930. This was the same ship that carried Jules Rimet and the footballers representing France, Romania, and Belgium who were participating in the tournament that year. The first team to be awarded the trophy wasUruguay, the winners of the1930 World Cup.[8]
During World War II, the trophy was held by1938 championItaly.Ottorino Barassi, the Italian vice-president ofFIFA and president ofFIGC, secretly transported the trophy from a bank in Rome and hid it in a shoe-box under his bed to prevent theNazis from taking it.[9] The1958 FIFA World Cup in Sweden marked the beginning of a tradition regarding the trophy. As Brazilian captainHilderaldo Bellini heard photographers' requests for a better view of the Jules Rimet Trophy, he lifted it up in the air. Every cup-winning captain since has repeated the gesture.[10]
On 20 March 1966, four months before the1966 FIFA World Cup in England, thetrophy was stolen during a public exhibition atWestminster Central Hall.[11] It was found seven days later wrapped in newspaper at the bottom of a suburban garden hedge in Beulah Hill,Upper Norwood,South London, by a black and white collie dog namedPickles.[12][13]
As a security measure, the (English)Football Association secretly manufactured a replica of the trophy for use in exhibitions rather than the original. This replica was used on occasions until the original trophy had to be handed back to FIFA for thenext competition in 1970. Since FIFA had explicitly denied the FA permission to create a replica, the replica also had to disappear from public view and was for many years kept under its creator's bed. This replica was sold at an auction in 1997 for £254,500, when it was purchased by FIFA.[14] The high auction price, 10 times the reserve price of £20,000–30,000, was led by speculation that the auctioned trophy was not the replica trophy but the original itself. Testing by FIFA confirmed the auctioned trophy was a replica.[14] Soon afterwards FIFA arranged for the replica to be lent for display at the EnglishNational Football Museum, which was then based inPreston but is now inManchester.[15]
TheBrazilian team won the tournament for the third time in 1970, allowing them to keep the real trophy in perpetuity, as had been stipulated by Jules Rimet in 1930.[16] It was put on display at theBrazilian Football Confederation headquarters inRio de Janeiro, in a cabinet with a front of bullet-proof glass.[17]
On 19 December 1983,the trophy was stolen again. The wooden rear of the cabinet was forced open with a crowbar and the cup was taken.[18] Four men were tried and convicted in absentia for the crime.[19] The trophy has never been recovered, and it is widely believed to have been melted down and sold into gold bars.[4] However, some believe the trophy was not melted down and was instead sold onto the black market and may still exist.[20]
Only one piece of the Jules Rimet Trophy has been found, the original base, which FIFA had kept in a basement of the federation's Zürich headquarters prior to 2015.[21]
The Confederation commissioned a replica of their own, made byEastman Kodak, using 1.8 kilograms (4.0 lb) of gold. This replica was presented toBrazilian militarypresidentJoão Figueiredo in 1984.[19]
A replacement trophy was commissioned by FIFA for the1974 World Cup. Fifty-three submissions were received from sculptors in seven countries.[4][22] Italian artistSilvio Gazzaniga was awarded the commission. The trophy stands 36.5 centimetres (14.4 in) tall and is made using 5.0 kilograms (11.0 lb) of 18 karat (75%) gold, worth approximately US$407,725 as of 25-AUG-2025. Its base is 13 centimetres (5.1 in) in diameter containing two layers ofmalachite which adds another 1.175 kilograms (2.59 lb) to the total weight. ChemistSir Martyn Poliakoff claims that the trophy is hollow, because if it were solid gold, the trophy would weigh 70–80 kilograms (150–180 lb) and would be too heavy to lift;[23][24] the trophy's original manufacturer has confirmed its hollowness.[25][26]
Produced byGDE Bertoni inPaderno Dugnano, it depicts two human figures holding up the Earth. Gazzaniga described the trophy thus, "The lines spring out from the base, rising in spirals, stretching out to receive the world. From the remarkable dynamic tensions of the compact body of the sculpture rise the figures of two athletes at the stirring moment of victory".[4]
The Cup used to be kept by the winning team until the final draw of the next tournament, but that is no longer the case. Instead the winners of the tournament receive a bronze replica which is gold-plated rather than solid gold. Likewise, three-time winners keep the replica instead of the original cup.[4]Germany became the first nation to win the new trophy for the third time when they won the2014 FIFA World Cup,[27] andArgentina became the second nation following their third win in Qatar at the2022 FIFA World Cup.
The trophy has the engraving "FIFA World Cup" on its base. After the1994 FIFA World Cup, a plate was added to the bottom side of the trophy where the names of winning countries are engraved, names therefore not visible when the trophy is standing upright. The inscriptions state the year in figures and the name of the winning nation in its national language – for example, "1974Deutschland" or "1994Brasil". In 2010, the name of the winning nation was engraved as "2010 Spain" in English, not in Spanish.[28][29] This was corrected in the new plate made after the 2018 World Cup.[30] As of 2022, twelve winners have been engraved on the base. The plate is replaced each World Cup cycle and the names of the trophy winners are rearranged into a spiral to accommodate future winners.[4]
The original trophy is now permanently kept at theFIFA World Football Museum in Zürich, Switzerland. It leaves there only when it goes on its FIFA World Cup Trophy Tour. It is present at the Final draw for the next World Cup, and on the pitch at the World Cup opening game and Final.[31] The FIFA World Cup Trophy Tour was inaugurated for the2006 FIFA World Cup competition.[32]
On the 3rd of December 2025Lego announced that a version of the FIFA World Cup Trophy would be released in March 2026 ahead of of the2026 FIFA World Cup.
Historic list of allholders of the trophy (winners of the FIFA World Cup).
Jules Rimet Trophy
Brazil – 1958, 1962, 1970
Uruguay – 1930, 1950
Italy – 1934, 1938
West Germany – 1954
England – 1966FIFA World Cup Trophy
West Germany / Germany – 1974, 1990, 2014 Argentina – 1978, 1986, 2022 Italy – 1982, 2006 Brazil – 1994, 2002
France – 1998, 2018
Spain – 2010But the story has holes. For a start, the Rimet couldn't be melted into gold bars because it wasn't solid gold. Most likely, the German replica wasn't all gold either. Moreover, the police had no evidence the trophy had been melted down. Indeed, the convicted Argentine gold dealer Juan Carlos Hernández testified that he didn't melt it down. An analysis of his foundry found traces of gold of a different quality from the trophy.
Fédération internationale de football association (FIFA) | |
| Tournaments |
|
| Qualification | |
| Finals | |
| Squads | |
| Final draw | |
| Broadcasters | |
| Bids | |
| Officials | |
| Team appearances | |
| Other records |
|
| Miscellaneous | |
