Silvio Gazzaniga, the Man Behind the World Cup Trophy
Once every four years, billions of eyes turn to a small gold plated object raised high in the middle of a field. The FIFA World Cup Trophy has long stood as the symbol of ultimate achievement in football, but the shape we know today is only one of two faces the tournament has worn since it first began in 1930. Two different designs make up the long history of the most prestigious trophy in sports, and each one came from the hands of a different sculptor with a story of its own.
The first trophy was named Victory, designed by French sculptor Abel Lafleur. It took the shape of a gold statue depicting Nike, the Greek goddess of victory, holding up an octagonal cup above her head. Made of sterling silver plated with gold and set on a lapis lazuli base, it stood 35 centimeters tall and weighed around 3.8 kilograms. In 1946 it was renamed the Jules Rimet Trophy, honoring the FIFA president who had initiated the very first World Cup.
FIFA's original rules stated that any country winning the World Cup three times would keep the trophy permanently. Brazil hit that mark in 1970, claiming its third title after 1958 and 1962, and the Jules Rimet Trophy officially became theirs for good.
The trophy's own journey was full of drama. During World War II, FIFA vice president Ottorino Barassi hid it inside a shoebox under his bed to keep it out of Nazi hands. Ahead of the 1966 World Cup, it was stolen while on display in London and later turned up again behind a hedge, found by a dog named Pickles. Its worst fate came in 1983. Kept at the headquarters of the Brazilian Football Confederation in Rio de Janeiro, the trophy was stolen again, and this time it never resurfaced. Strong suspicion points to the thieves having melted it down. Brazil now keeps only a replica.
That void opened the door for a new face of the World Cup. Once Brazil officially took permanent ownership of the Jules Rimet Trophy, FIFA launched an open competition in 1970 to design its replacement. Out of 53 entries submitted from around the world, the design by Italian sculptor Silvio Gazzaniga came out on top.
"The idea was to create something that expressed the effort, the dynamism, and the joy of an athlete at the moment of victory, with all the happiness that comes with it," Gazzaniga explained in an interview with FIFA a few years before his death in 2016. "The figures rising from the rough base material stir a sense of joy in victory. The malachite ring at the base fits the sculpture perfectly, since its color is green like a football pitch, and it's also a precious stone."
The design shows two human figures holding up a globe with both hands raised, a clear departure from the conventional cup shape that had long been the standard for sports trophies. Made of pure 18 karat gold and set on a round base ringed by two bands of green malachite, the trophy stands 36.8 centimeters tall and weighs 6.175 kilograms in total. Engraved along the bottom of the base are the names of the winning countries and their years of victory since the 1974 edition.
FIFA also changed the ownership rules for this new trophy. No country is allowed to keep the original gold trophy permanently, no matter how many times it wins. The winning team only holds the original trophy during the celebration period, then takes home a gold plated replica as a keepsake. The original stays under strict care at FIFA headquarters in Zurich, Switzerland.
The man behind the trophy, Silvio Gazzaniga, was born in Milan on January 23, 1921. From a young age he studied sculpture and applied arts at two of Milan's leading art schools, Scuola d'Arte del Castello and Accademia di Brera. His career began designing medals, plaques, and decorative crests for trophy manufacturers through the 1940s and 1950s. His skill with precious metals and fine engraving caught the attention of GDE Bertoni, Italy's leading trophy maker.
The high point of his career arrived when FIFA opened its new trophy design competition in 1970 and 1971. Gazzaniga shut himself in Bertoni's studio for a week to build a plaster model, and his design went on to beat 52 other entries from around the world. He later became art director at Bertoni and kept designing major trophies for other football federations. He died peacefully in his sleep at his home in Milan on October 31, 2016, at the age of 95.
The World Cup Trophy is only one piece of Gazzaniga's legacy in football. He also designed the UEFA Cup trophy in 1972, made of pure silver set on a yellow marble base, with no conventional handle but featuring figures of football players supporting the trophy's structure together. A year later he designed the UEFA Super Cup trophy to bring together the Champions League winner and the Europa League winner, and in 1978 he designed the UEFA Under-21 Championship trophy with the modern lines that became his signature.
Gazzaniga's sculptural style carries an easily recognizable character. He rarely used the conventional cup shape, preferring instead to carve dynamic human figures, like athletes caught at the peak of their effort. Many of his works also carry circular or spiraling lines rising upward, symbolizing energy and the emotional peak of celebrating a win. That legacy still stands tall every time a team captain lifts the gold trophy into the air, watched by billions of people around the world once every four years.
