Last Updated on September 27, 2019

The FIFA World Cup trophy is a golden trophy which is awarded to the winners of the FIFA World Cup tournament. Since the beginning of the world cup in 1930, two trophies have been awarded representing victory: the Jules Rimet Trophy from 1930 to 1970 and the FIFA World Cup Trophy from 1974 to the present day.

Originally the trophy was named Victory. Later honoring the former FIFA president Jules Rimet, FIFA World Cup Trophy is named after him. The Jules Rimet trophy was made of gold plated sterling silver and lapis lazuli and depicted Greek goddess of victory, Nike. In 1970, Brazil won the trophy in their home. The famous Jules Rimet trophy was stolen in 1983. The Jules Rimet was never able to recover.

In the next world cup,1974 a subsequent trophy, FIFA World Cup Trophy was introduced. The FIFA World Cup Trophy was made of 18-carat gold with a malachite base. The FIFA World Cup Trophy symbolizes two human figures holding up the earth. Spain is the current holder of The FIFA World Cup after winning 2010 FIFA world cup in South Africa.

The Jules Rimet Trophy:

Jules Rimet, the victory trophy generally known as the world cup or Coupe du Monde was the original prize of victory for winning the football world cup. The Jules Rimet Trophy was officially renamed in 1946 honoring the FIFA president Jules Rimet. In 1929, Jules Rimet was the first to campaign for organizing world cup tournament.

The Jules Rimet Trophy designed by Abel Lafleur was made of gold plated sterling silver on a white/yellow base made of marble. The base was replaced with a high base of lapis lazuli. The trophy was 35 cm high and 3.8 kg in weight. The cup represented the Greek goddess of victory, Nike. Uruguay was the first nation in this world competition winning the Jules Rimet trophy in 1930 world cup.

During the Second World War, the Jules Rimet trophy was held by Italy, the 1938 world cup winner. In that period of war Ottorino Barassi, the Italian vice president of FIFA secretly transported the trophy from a bank in Rome. He hid it in a shoebox under his bed so that the Nazis couldn’t find it.

Four months before the 1966 World cup in England, the Jules Rimet trophy was stolen. Seven days later, a dog named Pickles found it wrapped in a newspaper at the bottom of a suburban garden hedge in south London.

Then the security measures were taken by the FIFA officials. They made a replica of the trophy for exhibition and handed the original one to FIFA.

In 1970, Brazil won the World Cup for the third time and they are allowed to keep the real trophy in perpetuity. The original Jules Rimet trophy was put on display at Brazilian Football Confederation headquarters in Rio de Janeiro in a cabinet surrounded by bulletproof glass.

On December 20, 1983, the wooden cabinet was pried open by a crowbar and the Jules Rimet trophy was again stolen. The trophy has been never recovered.

The FIFA World Cup Trophy:

FIFA commissioned a replacement trophy for 1974 world cup due to Jules Rimet’s security problem. There were fifty-three submissions from the sculptors in seven different countries. Among them, Italian artist Silvio Gazzaniga won the award for commission. The FIFA World Cup Trophy was 36.5 cm tall, and made of 5kg of 18 carats (75%) gold. The base was 13 cm containing two layers of malachite. The FIFA World Cup trophy weighs 6.175 kg in total. The trophy depicts two human figures holding up the earth. Gazzaniga described the trophy,

“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.”

The FIFA World Cup Trophy holders are:

1974: West German captain Franz Beckenbauer

1978: Argentina captain Daniel Passarella

1982: Italy captain Dino Zoff

1986: Argentina captain Diego Maradona

1990: West Germany captain Lothar Matthäus

1994: Brazil captain Carlos Dunga

1998: France captain Didier Deschamps

2002: Brazil captain Cafu

2006: Italy captain Fabio Cannavaro

2010: Spain captain Iker Casillas

2014: Germany captain Manuel Neuer

2018: France captain Hugo Lloris

At the base the trophy has a visible engrave saying “FIFA World Cup”. All the names of the world cup winning nation were engraved at the bottom. It is not visible when the trophy held upright. There is a mere space for four more engravings until 2030, the year for 100 years of FIFA World Cup. The FIFA regulations now stated that the winning team would be given a gold plated replica rather than the original solid gold The FIFA World Cup Trophy.