The FIFA World Cup is the most valuable and coveted trophy in world football. And one of the most beautiful. With his design for the trophy, which is almost 40 cm high, weighs 6.2 kilograms and is made of 18-carat gold, the Italian sculptor Silvio Gazzaniga created a masterpiece. It depicts two triumphant footballers holding up the Earth. A symbol of the unifying power of football.
FIFA treats the trophy like it was treasure. Only heads of state are allowed to touch it, along with the coaches and players who have earned the epithet 'world champions' and a number of FIFA staff at its permanent home in the FIFA Museum in Zurich. The exhibit is a gold-plated bronze version of the World Cup trophy that is presented exclusively to the winning associations.
The predecessor of Silvio Gazzaniga's trophy is the Coupe Jules Rimet, named for the FIFA president who served from 1921 to 1954. When the Brazilian national team won the trophy for a third time in 1970, it became the property of the Brazilian Football Confederation. In 1983, however, it was stolen and is assumed to have been melted down. The Brazilians were presented with a replacement made in the German city of Hanau a year later. The exhibit on show here at the German Football Museum is the Coupe Jules Rimet World Cup winner's trophy.
The current trophy was awarded for the first time at the 1974 World Cup in Germany. It was presented to Franz Beckenbauer the captain of the German national team after their 2-1 defeat of the Netherlands in the final at the Olympic Stadium in Munich. For Philipp Lahm and Lothar Matthäus, the captains of the 1990 and the 2014 World Cup-winning teams, being presented with the World Cup trophy was one of the greatest moments of their careers. Germany have thus lifted the current trophy a record number of times. The rule stating that the original becomes the property of the winning association after the third win has long been abolished, however.
Deutsches Fußballmuseum