How Big is the World Cup Trophy?

The first FIFA World Cup tournament was held in Uruguay back in 1930, where the host nation won one of their two World Cups, having beaten Argentina 4-2 in the final at Estadio Centenario in Montevideo.

However, between 1930 and 1970, the World Cup trophy was a completely different design, known as the Jules Rimet Trophy. This trophy was named in honour of the former FIFA President, Jules Rimet and was notably the one that Sir Bobby Moore lifted when England won their home World Cup of 1966.

Notably, Rimet was the man who came forward with the idea for a World Cup to be held all the way back in 1928. His decision to hold it in Uruguay initially met criticism, due to it breaking up club seasons, however, as time went on, national sides grew to like the idea, leading to the Frenchman being nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1956.

The last team to win the Jules Rimet Trophy was Brazil in 1970, as they beat Italy 4-1 in the final in Mexico City at the Estadio Azteca, when Carlos Alberto scored an all-time classic World Cup final goal.

After winning it for a third time, Brazil were allowed to keep this trophy in perpetuity, it is on display at the Brazilian Football Confederation headquarters in Rio de Janeiro.

1974 saw the change to the modern-day World Cup trophy, which is one of the most expensive in sporting history, at an estimated cost of £20m.

FIFA’s World Cup trophy is 36.8 centimetres tall and is made of 18 Karat gold, with bands of malachite on its base. It weighs approximately 6.1 kilograms which equates to 30,875 carats.

Since the switch was made to the new trophy, there have been six winners of it, such as Germany (West Germany), Argentina, Italy, Brazil, France and Spain, with Germany leading the way since then with three World Cup wins to their name, whilst the likes of Argentina, Italy, France and Brazil have won it twice, whilst Spain’s sole World Cup win came in 2010 at South Africa.

In 2042, there will have to be a new World Cup trophy made, as the name plaque on the base of the current one is only designed to be filled up to 2038 from 1974 with 17 champions having their names engraved onto it.