"The real explosion of joy came when the German team raised the cup in Munich and the whole stadium erupted," said Giorgio Gazzaniga, watching his father's creation lifted for the first time in 1974. "That was the moment an object became an icon." Fifty years later, either Spain or Argentina will lift that same trophy at the 2026 World Cup final on Sunday.
The design hasn't changed. It doesn't need to.
Milan, a sculptor, and 50 rival sketches
Silvio Gazzaniga designed the current trophy in his studio in Milan's Brera neighborhood after FIFA opened a competition for a new design in the early 1970s. The trigger? Brazil became the first nation to win three World Cups in 1970, earning permanent possession of the original Jules Rimet Trophy under the rules at the time. FIFA needed something new — and a replacement they could actually keep.
More than 50 proposals came in. Gazzaniga was the only one who submitted a full physical model, which gave the jury something the other designers hadn't bothered to offer: the actual object in your hands, not a drawing on paper. The jury felt the form. They understood the story it told. He won.
That story, according to his son, was built around three ideas: the athlete's suffering, the moment of victory, and the fan's release when it arrives. Two human figures spiral upward toward a globe — an Earth held aloft by the effort underneath it. "The athlete's body is rough, rugged, for it has suffered, had to fight, and struggled for victory," Giorgio Gazzaniga explained. The arms extending at the top were designed to echo the wings of Nike, the Greek goddess of victory.
Gazzaniga also designed the UEFA Cup and the European Super-Cup. He died in 2016, but his family has preserved his original Milan office, including the prototype submitted to FIFA and early wax casts.
What winners actually take home
The trophy lifted on the pitch — 36 centimeters tall, cast in 18-carat gold, sitting on a base ringed with green malachite — goes straight back to FIFA after the final. Winners get a gold-plated replica. That's it. FIFA changed the rules after the Jules Rimet situation made permanently handing over the original look like a bad idea, and the Jules Rimet story is genuinely extraordinary.
- The original trophy, introduced at the 1930 World Cup, depicted the Greek goddess Nike and was named after tournament founder Jules Rimet.
- It was stolen in 1966 while on public display in England — and recovered under a hedge in south London by a dog named Pickles.
- It was stolen again in 1983 from the Brazilian Football Confederation headquarters. It has never been found and is widely believed to have been melted down.
FIFA won't be making that mistake again. The Gazzaniga trophy stays in Zurich between tournaments, and FIFA has committed to using it at least through the 2038 World Cup. Sunday will be its 14th final.
Fifty-two years since West Germany lifted it in Munich. The same gold. The same spiral. The same moment that turns a sporting result into something people remember for the rest of their lives.
