FIFA World Cup Trophy

The FIFA World Cup is a golden trophy that is awarded to the winners of the FIFA World Cup association football tournament. Since the advent of the World Cup in 1930, two different trophies have been used: the Jules Rimet Trophy from 1930 to 1970, and thereafter the FIFA World Cup Trophy from 1974 to the present day. The production cost of the current trophy is estimated at $242,700.

The first trophy, originally named Victory, but later renamed in honour of FIFA president Jules Rimet, was made of gold plated sterling silver and a lapis lazuli base. It depicted Nike, 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 in 1974. Made of 18 karat gold with bands of malachite on its base, it stands 36.8 centimetres (14.5 in) high and weighs 6.175 kilograms (13.61 lb). The trophy was made by the GDE Bertoni company in Italy. It depicts two human figures holding up the Earth. The current holders of the trophy are Argentina, winners of the 2022 World Cup. The trophy is kept at the FIFA 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.

Only a selected few are officially allowed to touch the trophy with bare hands, including players and managers who have won the competition, heads of state, and FIFA officials.

The Jules Rimet Cup was the original trophy of the FIFA World Cup. Originally called "Victory", but generally known simply as the World Cup or Coupe du Monde, it was renamed in 1946 to honour the FIFA President Jules Rimet, who in 1929 passed a vote to initiate the competition. It was designed by French sculptor Abel Lafleur and made of gold-plated sterling silver on a lapis lazuli base. 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). It comprised a decagonal cup, supported by a winged figure representing Nike, the ancient Greek goddess of victory. The Jules Rimet Trophy was taken to Uruguay for the first FIFA World Cup aboard the Conte Verde, which set sail from Villefranche-sur-Mer, just southeast of Nice, 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 was Uruguay, the winners of the 1930 World Cup.

During World War II, the trophy was held by 1938 champion Italy. Ottorino Barassi, the Italian vice-president of FIFA and president of FIGC, secretly transported the trophy from a bank in Rome and hid it in a shoe-box under his bed to prevent the Nazis from taking it. The 1958 FIFA World Cup in Sweden marked the beginning of a tradition regarding the trophy. As Brazilian captain Hilderaldo 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.

On 20 March 1966, four months before the 1966 FIFA World Cup in England, the trophy was stolen during a public exhibition at Westminster Central Hall. 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 named Pickles.

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 the next 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. 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. Soon afterwards FIFA arranged for the replica to be lent for display at the English National Football Museum, which was then based in Preston but is now in Manchester.