FIFA World Cup Trophy

The FIFA World Cup trophy, awarded every four years to the winner of the association football tournament, is mainly made of gold. Since the competition began in 1930, two different trophies have existed. The first, the Jules Rimet Trophy, was used from 1930 until 1970. The current trophy, simply called the FIFA World Cup Trophy, has been awarded since 1974. As of June 2026, the raw materials in the current trophy are worth about US$713,000.

The original trophy was first named Victory but was later renamed for FIFA president Jules Rimet. It was made of gold-plated sterling silver with a lapis lazuli base and depicted Nike, the Greek goddess of victory. After Brazil won their third World Cup in 1970, they were allowed to keep the Jules Rimet Trophy permanently. That trophy was stolen in 1983 and has never been recovered.

The replacement trophy, introduced in 1974, is made of 18-karat gold with bands of malachite on its base. It stands 36.8 cm tall and weighs 6.175 kg. Created by the GDE Bertoni company in Italy, it shows two human figures holding up the Earth. The current holders are Spain, who won the 2026 World Cup. The trophy is kept at the FIFA World Football Museum in Zürich, Switzerland, and is only taken out on special occasions. Only a few people are allowed to touch it with bare hands: players and managers who have won the tournament, heads of state, and FIFA officials.

The Jules Rimet Cup was originally called Victory but was renamed in 1946 to honor Jules Rimet, who had pushed for the competition's creation in 1929. Designed by French sculptor Abel Lafleur, it was made of gold-plated sterling silver on a lapis lazuli base. In 1954, the base was replaced with a taller version to fit more winners' names. It stood 35 cm high and weighed 3.8 kg, featuring a decagonal cup supported by a winged figure of Nike.

The Jules Rimet Trophy traveled to Uruguay for the first World Cup in 1930 aboard the ship Conte Verde, which also carried Jules Rimet and players from France, Romania, and Belgium. Uruguay, the first winners, received the trophy. During World War II, the trophy was held by Italy, the 1938 champion. Italian FIFA vice-president Ottorino Barassi hid it in a shoebox under his bed to keep it from the Nazis. In 1958, Brazilian captain Hilderaldo Bellini started the tradition of lifting the trophy above his head so photographers could see it, a gesture repeated by every winning captain since.

On March 20, 1966, four months before the World Cup in England, the trophy was stolen from a public exhibition at Westminster Central Hall. It was found seven days later, wrapped in newspaper in a hedge in south London, by a dog named Pickles. As a security measure, the English Football Association secretly made a replica for exhibitions. This replica was later sold at auction in 1997 for £254,500, and FIFA bought it. Tests confirmed it was a replica, not the original. FIFA then lent it to the English National Football Museum, now in Manchester.

After Brazil kept the real trophy in 1970, it was displayed at the Brazilian Football Confederation headquarters in Rio de Janeiro in a cabinet with bullet-proof glass. On December 19, 1983, the trophy was stolen again when the wooden back of the cabinet was forced open. Four men were convicted in absentia. The trophy has never been recovered; it is widely believed to have been melted down, though some think it was sold on the black market and may still exist. Only the original base has been found, kept by FIFA in a basement in Zürich until 2015. The Brazilian Confederation commissioned its own replica from Eastman Kodak, using 1.8 kg of gold.