Jules Rimet Trophy 1930-1970

The journey of the FIFA World Cup trophy started with Jules Rimet, the third president of world football governing body FIFA. He laid down the plans for a football World Cup in 1928 and subsequently passed a vote the following year to hold the first edition in Uruguay in 1930.

The task of designing a trophy for the competition was commissioned to Abel Lafleur, a French sculptor who would later go on to compete in art competitions held during the Los Angeles 1932 Olympics.

Lafleur’s design featured a gold statuette of Nike, the Greek goddess of victory, holding up an octagonal Cup over her head. She had a garland around her neck.

It was inspired by the Nike of Samothrace statue, an incomplete yet iconic Greek statue from the Hellenistic era which is on display at Paris’ Louvre museum.

The trophy, originally dubbed Victory and commonly called the Coupe du Monde (French for World Cup), was 35cm in height and weighed 3.8kg. It was constructed with gold-plated sterling silver and it had a blue base made of semi-precious stone called lapis lazuli.

There were gold plates attached to each of the four sides of the base, on which the winning countries’ names were engraved after each edition.

In 1946, it was renamed the Jules Rimet Trophy in honour of the erstwhile FIFA president’s 25th anniversary in office.

The trophy was taken to Uruguay aboard the Conte Verde, an Italian passenger ship which ferried Rimet, along with the national teams of France, Romania and Belgium to Montevideo for the maiden football World Cup.

Uruguay became the inaugural champions and kept the trophy in 1930 but Italy took it back to Europe in 1934 and kept it by defending their title in 1938.

Hidden in a shoebox

Concerns about the safety of the Jules Rimet Trophy during World War II led to an unlikely destination for the much coveted prize for the duration of the conflict.

Ottorino Barassi, an Italian who was serving as the FIFA vice-president at the time, quietly removed the trophy from the vault of a bank in Rome and hid it in a shoebox under his bed during the entirety of the War.

The trophy stayed safe under Barassi’s bed until the World Cup returned after WWII in 1950 in Brazil. Barassi, who was integral to Italy hosting the 1938 edition, also spearheaded the operations for hosting the 1950 edition.

In 1954, the old base of the Jules Rimet Trophy was replaced with a taller one to accommodate names of more winners.

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