It is the most coveted prize in world sport, and it has a story as dramatic as any final. From Abel Lafleur's gold-plated Jules Rimet, stolen twice and once rescued by a dog, to the 18-carat gold figures that have been lifted since 1974, this is the history of the trophy itself, and the prize the 2026 champion will raise at MetLife Stadium on 19 July.
The World Cup has been lifted in two forms, and the switch between them is one of the game's best stories.
When Uruguay were crowned the first world champions in 1930, the prize was a small gold-plated statuette designed by the French sculptor Abel Lafleur, showing Nike, the Greek goddess of victory, holding an octagonal vessel aloft. Originally called simply Victory, it was renamed the Jules Rimet Trophy in 1946 to honour the FIFA president who had driven the creation of the tournament. It stood for four decades, through the disruption of the Second World War and the game's post-war boom, until a change of rules ended its life as the prize.
The original trophy led a more dramatic life off the pitch than most players managed on it.
Months before England hosted the World Cup, the trophy was stolen from a public display in Westminster. The theft was a national embarrassment, and a nervous FIFA quietly had a replica made in case the real cup never turned up.
A week later a dog named Pickles sniffed out the trophy wrapped in newspaper under a garden hedge in south London. The recovery made Pickles a celebrity and spared English football before it went on to win the tournament that summer.
Brazil's third title, in Mexico in 1970, meant they had won it three times, in 1958, 1962 and 1970, and under the rules of the day they were given the Jules Rimet to keep forever. FIFA needed a brand new trophy.
In December 1983 the trophy was stolen again, this time from the Brazilian federation in Rio de Janeiro. It was never recovered and is widely believed to have been melted down. Only replicas of the original survive.
The loss of the Jules Rimet shaped how FIFA has guarded the prize ever since. There would be no more giving the trophy away, no matter how many times a nation won. For the tournament that made Pickles famous, read our feature on 1966 and England's only World Cup triumph.
The current cup was designed to be kept by FIFA in perpetuity, a deliberate answer to the loss of the first.
After Brazil claimed the Jules Rimet, FIFA held a competition to design its replacement and chose the Italian sculptor Silvio Gazzaniga, working for the Bertoni company in Milan. His trophy, first lifted by West Germany in 1974, is made of 18-carat gold with two bands of malachite, a green semiprecious stone, set into the base. It stands 36.8 centimetres tall and weighs 6.175 kilograms, and depicts two human figures rising in a spiral to hold up the Earth. Gazzaniga said he wanted to capture the emotion of victory itself rather than a single triumphant player.
Crucially, this trophy can never be won outright. The winning captain lifts it at the final and the nation celebrates with it, but it is then returned to FIFA and kept at the FIFA World Football Museum in Zurich. The champions instead take home a gold-plated bronze replica, the FIFA World Cup Winners' Trophy. The names of every winner since 1974 are engraved on the underside of the base, with room for champions up to 2038.
On 19 July 2026 a captain will raise the same trophy that West Germany, Argentina, Italy, Brazil, France and Spain have lifted before.
The first 48-team World Cup ends with the trophy at MetLife Stadium in New York and New Jersey, where the winner of a 104-match, 16-city tournament will lift the Gazzaniga cup and add their nation to a roll of honour that stretches back to 1974. Before that, the trophy has crossed the three host countries on the pre-tournament Trophy Tour, the closest most fans will ever get to the real thing. To follow who reaches the final and gets their hands on it, see our path to the MetLife final, the favourites and odds, and our ranking of the greatest World Cup finals ahead of the 2026 showpiece.
The trophy is the goal. Explore the rest of the WorldCuply.com guide to the race for it:
The full knockout bracket from the Round of 32 to MetLife, the projected routes, and the key dates and venues.
See the bracket ›The outright favourites and the odds, and the case for and against every contender chasing the gold.
See the favourites ›Ranking the most dramatic finals in the tournament's history, the goals and the heartbreak, ahead of 2026.
See the ranking ›England's only World Cup, the tournament Pickles the dog saved, and why it still defines a footballing nation.
Read the story ›The design, materials and history were checked against official and authoritative sources:
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