The Italian sculptor who designed the FIFA World Cup trophy wanted to capture three sporting emotions in a single spiralling form: the athlete’s struggle, the fan’s jubilation and the moment of victory.
On Sunday, either Spain or Argentina will feel a little of all three as the winner lifts the trophy after the 2026 World Cup final.
Ahead of an action-packed World Cup weekend, here’s what to know about football’s most coveted prize.
The World Cup trophy was designed in Milan
When Brazil took permanent possession of the original trophy by winning its third World Cup in 1970, FIFA launched an open competition for a new design. The winner would be a 50-year-old sculptor from Milan.
Silvio Gazzaniga designed his winning entry in his studio in Milan’s Brera neighbourhood. His design, now familiar to generations of World Cup fans, features two figures swirling up toward an orb representing the Earth.
“When he started to design the cup, he was sketching a huge number of drawings and finally started to develop the idea to have the world and this symbol that it is like a two DNA spirals, that are moving up,” said the designer’s son, Giorgio Gazzaniga, who was a teenager at the time.
The elder Gazzaniga, who died in 2016 aged 95, trained at Milan’s Brera Academy of Fine Arts before joining trophy maker G.D.E. Bertoni.
He later designed some of football’s best-known trophies, including the UEFA Cup, UEFA Super Cup and Intercontinental Cup.
Before Gazzaniga came Jules Rimet
The first World Cup trophy, introduced for the inaugural tournament in 1930, depicted Nike – the Greek goddess of victory – and became known as the Jules Rimet Trophy after the FIFA president who founded the competition.
Designed by French sculptor Abel Lafleur, it was made of gold-plated sterling silver and stood on a lapis lazuli base.
Under the original rules, any nation that won the World Cup three times would keep the trophy permanently. Brazil did exactly that in 1970, prompting FIFA to commission Gazzaniga’s replacement.
The Jules Rimet Trophy was stolen twice. The first theft happened in 1966 while it was on public display in England. According to FIFA, a dog named Pickles discovered it beneath a hedge in south London.
It was stolen again from the Brazilian Football Confederation headquarters in 1983. It has never been recovered and is widely believed to have been melted down.
Capturing the struggle for victory
Gazzaniga’s design topped more than 50 other entries submitted by artists from 25 countries.
Rather than submitting sketches, he also produced a full-size plaster prototype, allowing judges to assess the trophy as a finished object, according to his son.
“There is the world, which stands above all else, there is the athlete’s exertion, there is the athlete’s movement within the metal, and the athlete’s body is rough, rugged, for it has suffered, had to fight, and struggled for victory,” the younger Gazzaniga said.
“That victory is expressed through arms that resemble the wings of Victory, capturing not only the athlete’s triumph but also the jubilation of the fan,” he added.
Gazzaniga’s family has preserved his office at a new location in Pioltello, on the outskirts of Milan, including drawings, the original prototype submitted to FIFA and a wax cast.
Earlier this year, Milan officials unveiled a commemorative plaque outside Gazzaniga’s former studio on Via Alessandro Volta 7, where he designed the iconic trophy.
Why champions don’t keep the trophy
The World Cup trophy hoisted by the winning side at the end of the final is 36 centimetres tall and cast in 18-carat gold. It sits on a base featuring two rings of green malachite, symbolising the playing fields.
Unfortunately for the winners, it goes back to FIFA after the tournament.
The organisation keeps the original trophy at its Swiss headquarters between World Cups. The winning team receives a gold-plated replica.
And FIFA no longer lets three-time winners keep the original, either.
First lifted by West Germany captain Franz Beckenbauer after the 1974 World Cup final, Gazzaniga’s design has remained football’s ultimate prize ever since.
The younger Gazzaniga still remembers watching that game at home with his family as West Germany faced the Netherlands.
“The real explosion of joy came when the German team raised the cup in Munich and the whole stadium erupted,” he said. “That was the moment an object became an icon.”
Gazzaniga’s legacy lives on
Gazzaniga died in Milan on 31 October 2016 at the age of 95, but his work continues to be celebrated in Italy and beyond.
In 2003, Milan awarded Gazzaniga the Ambrogino d’Oro, one of the city’s highest civic honours, in recognition of his contribution to its artistic heritage. Eight years later, he received an international award from the International Association of Numismatists and Medal Designers for his lifetime contribution to medal and trophy design.
And every four years, the World Cup offers Gazzaniga a kind of lifetime achievement award.
On Sunday, one more team will add its own chapter to this history as the trophy Gazzaniga designed 55 years ago will be raised once again.