Football is the most-watched sport globally, especially the world cup, UEFA champions league, Premier League, La liga, League 1, Bundes League, many more. However, many competitions come with trophies and grand rewards for victors. This article gives you the most expensive Trophies in football.
Top 5 most expensive football trophies in the world
Ballon D’or Trophy – $805,439
The
Ballon d’or trophy is the most coveted individual accolade in football; it is
worth a little over half a million Euros. Organised by French news magazine
‘France Football’, who chooses the best player of the calendar year based on
voting by football journalists, coaches and captains of the national team.
Player with the highest vote is presented with an award during the award night.
The
award was created in 1956 by the French magazine (Stanley Matthews was its
first winner) and merged in 2010 with the FIFA World Player of the Year,
founded in 1991. However, the agreement came to an end in 2016 and the award
changed back to Ballon d’Or.
Argentine
captain and playmaker, Lionel Messi is the highest recipient of the trophy, a
golden ball.
The
trophy has a height of 28 cm, a diameter of 22 cm, and weighs around 12 kg,
with two brass plates embossed to give them the shape of a ball.
It
has a sphere filled with a wax-like material that is chiselled to give the
shape and seam of the spherical representation. It is then bathed in fine gold
with the France Football logo and the name of the winner engraved.
The English F.A Cup Trophy – $1.18 Million
The
Football Association Challenge Cup is the oldest national football competition
in the world. More commonly known as the FA Cup, it is an annual knockout
football competition in men’s domestic English football. Since 2015, it has
been known as The Emirates FA Cup after its headline sponsor.
The
cup is only loaned to the winner of the competition by the FA, under the
current (2015–16) rules and it must be returned on or before March 1st, earlier
if given seven days’ notice. Traditionally, the holders had the Cup until the
following year’s presentation, although more recently the trophy has been taken
on publicity tours by the FA in between finals.
The
current version is a duplicate of the 2014 design, which weighs 6.3 kilograms
of sterling silver. This magnificent piece of silverware took English luxury
firm Thomas Lyte 250 hours to create.
Europa League Trophy – $4.5 Million
The UEFA Europa League Trophy is the heaviest
of all UEFA silverware. Tipping the scales at 15kg, it is 65cm high, 33cm wide
and 23cm deep. The trophy is a silver cup which sits on a yellow marble plinth;
the lower part of the sculpture symbolises the stylised footballers and is
surmounted by a hand-embossed slab.
It
was designed and crafted by Silvio Gazzaniga, the same author of FIFA World
Cup, who worked in the Bertoni workshop in Milan.
The
Europa League is the second-tier competition of European club football, ranking
below the UEFA Champions League and above the UEFA Europa Conference League.
Copa Libertadores Trophy – $8.5 Million
The
Copa Libertadores trophy, is a trophy awarded annually by CONMEBOL to the
football club that wins the Copa Libertadores. It is the most prestigious club
competition in South American football and one of the most watched events in
the world, broadcast in 135 nations worldwide.
Copa
Libertadores winners keep the real trophy in their possession. It remains so
until the draw and seeding of the next Copa Libertadores begins. Before the
proceedings happen, the club president of the defending champion will return
the trophy to the president of CONMEBOL and a replica trophy is awarded to the
winning club. Winning clubs are also permitted to make exact replicas of their
own. A club gets to keep the trophy indefinitely if they win three consecutive
tournaments.
The
trophy’s original design only allowed for 18 winners’ badges, but it was
subsequently altered to accommodate more. In 2009, the trophy went through a
major renovation as the badges were organised to have nine horizontal columns
with vertical rows. The trophy is scheduled to be filled by the 2024 edition.
The top of the trophy is mostly made of sterling silver. Silver-coated bronze
is used just for a little figure on the crest.
Fifa World Cup – $20 Million
The
FIFA World cup is the most prestigious competition in the world, as such, it
isn’t surprising that the FIFA World Cup is the most expensive not only in
football but in all sports. The trophy was created in 1974 by renowned Italian
artist Silvio Gazzaniga and is awarded to the winning team at the World Cup
tournament that takes place every four years.
The
first trophy, originally named Victory, but later renamed in honour of FIFA
president Jules Rimet, was made of gold plated sterling silver and lapis lazuli
and depicted Nike, the Greek goddess of victory. Brazil won the trophy outright
in 1970, prompting the commissioning of a replacement. The original Jules Rimet
Trophy was stolen in 1983 and never recovered.
The
subsequent trophy, called the “FIFA World Cup Trophy”, was introduced in 1974.
Made of 18 karat gold with bands of malachite on its base, it stands 36.8
centimetres high and weighs 6.1 kilograms (30,875 carats). The trophy has the
engraving “FIFA World Cup” on its base. It depicts two human figures holding up
the Earth.
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