On December 18, 2022, Argentina will go down in football history forever, as the Blue and Whites won their third world title by defeating France in a penalty shootout. This victory allowed Argentine striker Lionel Messi to finally clear up questions about the level of his greatness. Now Leo has in his collection, along with many club and individual trophies, and probably the most prestigious, even the main trophy, the World Cup.

After a resounding victory in Qatar, it is not surprising that the players of the Argentina national team and head coach Lionel Scaloni returned to their homeland to properly celebrate such a heroic event in front of their fans. During all kinds of events, the players did not get tired of posing with the World Cup, repeatedly lifting them above their heads and showing the fans – they say, look, we brought exactly what Argentina has been waiting for since then. 1986 and teams up with the legendary Diego Maradona on the roster.

However, only knowledgeable and knowledgeable football fans understand that Messi and his company did not bring Argentina the trophy that they raised above their heads and passionately kissed at the Lusail Iconic stadium in Qatar after their victory over the French. Then, right after the final, the FIFA President, accompanied by other important names, handed Messi and his partners the original 6-pound pure gold trophy, but the White-Blues had to return the trophy right after. they took back the statuette and took home a gilded copy which they boasted to their fans.

Caused? Here everything depends on the rules and traditions of FIFA, where the original World Cup, which replaced the previous trophy in 1974, called the Jules Rimet Cup, is used exclusively in all kinds of ceremonies and only for a very short time. ownership of the winning team. After that, the winners return the trophy and the trophy is stored again at FIFA headquarters, awaiting the official start of the next traditional events before the new World Cup.

The original FIFA World Cup during football matches can only be seen twice – at the opening ceremony of the new World Cup and in the final of the tournament, where the trophy is presented to the winner by the head of the organization. set. At the same time, according to FIFA regulations, there is an extremely limited circle of people who can touch, lift and perform other manipulations with the trophy.

All of this is related to the value of the trophy, which FIFA values ​​like the apple of its eye. According to some experts, the World Cup is worth around $20 million at current market prices because it is made of pure 18-karat gold and has two malachite arches at its base, emphasizing the grace and splendor of the figurine.

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The increased security around the FIFA World Cup is due to the fact that the previous trophy, played from the time the tournament was founded until 1974, was repeatedly stolen, resulting in significant inconvenience and unforeseen additional financial expenses for the organizers. piece. The Jules Rimet Cup, in particular, had an extremely difficult history during the Second World War, as the Italian team won it in 1938 and local officials had to be smart so that the honorary trophy did not fall into the hands of the Nazis. On the eve of the start of the World Cup in England in March 1966, the statuette was completely stolen. A week after the accident, the trophy was found by a dog named Pickles. It happened in a park in south London, and the Jules Rimet Cup was wrapped in ordinary newspaper…

Interestingly, in 1970 the Jules Rimet Cup was forever transferred to the Brazilian Football Confederation, because when the trophy was established, this was considered for the team to win the World Cup three times first. But for the Brazilians, eternity took a little over 13 years … In December 1983, the figurine was treacherously stolen directly from the head office of the Brazilian Football Confederation. The investigation revealed that the robbers had entered a steel cabinet fitted with bulletproof glass. It turned out that this glass was framed by an ordinary wooden balustrade, which they broke with an unknown crowbar and, as a result, seized an expensive statuette … Since then, the Jules Rimet Cup has not been found. and the Brazilian Football Confederation had to recruit specialists who created an exact copy for their own cash prizes, for which about 1.8 kilograms of pure gold was spent.

In 2015, it was reported that the original pedestal of the Jules Rimet Cup, made of lapis lazuli, was found in one of the FIFA Headquarters vaults. It bears the names of the first four winners of the trophy in 1930, 1934, 1938 and 1950. After that, the 10 cm stand was separated from the main figurine and replaced with a new one, which turned out to be stolen in Brazil in 1983 as part of an integral glass …

In fact, to prevent FIFA’s attempts to steal the World Cup further, it adopted a rule in which only a short-term worthwhile trophy is handed over to the winner of the World Cup. Upon completion of the ceremonial procedures, the figurine is returned to FIFA and the winning team has and uses an exact copy of the statue.

What is the difference between the original and the copy of the FIFA World Cup? As mentioned earlier, the original is made of solid gold and weighs just over six kilograms. The copy that Lionel Messi and his associates brought to Argentina after the victory in Qatar is not entirely gold, but only covered with gold. There is another important difference between the trophies – the names of all the world champion teams since 1974 are engraved on the original statuette on the pedestal. The copy contains only a plate with the name of the owner of a particular trophy, in whose honor it was created. It will remain permanently owned by the local football association and will not require its return to FIFA.

Text: meta.ua/sport