How heavy is the World Cup trophy?

FIFA’s own figures are that the trophy is 36.8 cm (14.5 in) high, weighs 6.175 kg (13.6 lb) and is made of 18-carat gold, on a base 13 cm (5.1 in) across that holds two bands of green malachite, a semi-precious stone. In 2010 FIFA told BBC News that the 6.175 kg includes 4.9 kg of 18-carat gold, so the other 1.3 kg or so is the malachite. Some newer FIFA articles round the total to 6.1 kg.

18-carat gold is 75% gold, with the rest other metals. So 4.9 kg of it holds about 3.7 kg of pure gold (4.9 × 0.75 = 3.675 kg), roughly 118 troy ounces, a bit less than a third of a standard 400-ounce gold bar.

Italian sculptor Silvio Gazzaniga designed it, picked from 53 entries after Brazil kept the old trophy in 1970, and it was first awarded to West Germany in 1974. It shows two figures spiraling up to hold the Earth. It was cast by the lost-wax method at the Bertoni workshop near Milan, and the names of the winners are engraved on the underside of the base, where nobody sees them while it stands upright.

FIFA describes the trophy as “solid” 18-carat gold. In 2010 Martyn Poliakoff, a chemist at the University of Nottingham, worked out that a truly solid gold trophy of that size would hold 70 to 80 kg (154 to 176 lb) of gold, as much as a fairly large adult, and far too heavy to wave above your head. He read FIFA’s “solid” as meaning the metal is gold all the way through rather than gold-plated steel, and guessed that at least the globe on top is hollow. Wikipedia reports that the manufacturer has since confirmed the trophy is hollow.

A rough check of our own: a cylinder 13 cm wide and 36.8 cm tall holds about 4.9 litres (3.14 × 6.5 × 6.5 × 36.8 ≈ 4,880 cm³). Filled with 18-carat gold at about 15.5 g/cm³ it would weigh 76 kg, and with pure gold at 19.3 g/cm³, 94 kg. The real trophy has a narrow waist and gaps between the figures, so it fills well under that cylinder. Nobody has published its actual volume, but a solid version would very likely land somewhere between 40 and 75 kg, about 6 to 12 times what it really weighs.

Going the other way, the 4.9 kg of gold that is really there takes up only about 320 cm³ (4,900 ÷ 15.5), roughly a third of a litre of metal spread over the whole sculpture.

From 1930 to 1970 the World Cup winners got a different trophy. Designed by French sculptor Abel Lafleur, it showed Nike, the Greek goddess of victory, holding up a cup, and was made of gold-plated sterling silver on a lapis lazuli base. It stood 35 cm (14 in) high and weighed 3.8 kg (8.4 lb), about 60% of the modern trophy.

It was stolen in London in 1966 and found a week later under a garden hedge by a dog named Pickles. Brazil kept it for good after their third title in 1970, but it was stolen again from the Brazilian federation’s headquarters in Rio de Janeiro in 1983 and never recovered; it is widely believed to have been melted down. The federation had a replacement made by Eastman Kodak using 1.8 kg of gold.

The modern trophy is never won outright. Its malachite bands have been restored several times and it has been given a new layer of gold plating. Teams used to keep it until the next tournament, but after the latest restoration in 2005 FIFA stopped lending it out. Since 2006 the champions lift the original on the pitch and then swap it in the dressing room for the FIFA World Cup Winner’s Trophy, a gold-plated bronze replica they keep for good.

Each Winner’s Trophy is cast four years ahead. The one Spain received after beating Argentina 1-0 in the 2026 final was cast in 2022, and FIFA engraves it before handing it over. FIFA does not publish a weight for the replicas. The original lives in the FIFA Museum in Zurich, and only former winners, heads of state and FIFA officials are allowed to touch it with bare hands.