Adobe Stock image.
In about four months’ time, the world’s biggest single sporting event will kick off. Billions of football (or soccer) fans will be glued in front of their TV screens and mobile devices as they soak up the drama and excitement of the FIFA World Cup and await the crowning of a new champion.
The Coupe du Monde trophy itself carries immense prestige. Beyond symbolizing a nation’s supremacy in the world’s most popular sport, it has the power to unite an entire country in celebration. After winning the 2022 World Cup, Argentina erupted in what was arguably the biggest (or wildest) celebration in its history after lifting the trophy for the first time in 36 years.
Four years later, another massive party is brewing. Anticipation is already building for what will be the first World Cup to be hosted across three countries — the United States, Canada and Mexico — and the first to feature an expanded field of 48 teams.
With the tournament also likely marking the final World Cup appearances of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, widely regarded as the two greatest players of their generation, and with more nations competing than ever before, many believe this could become the most-watched and most significant World Cup of all time.
Most valuable
Regardless of which country emerges victorious, the champions will be lifting the most valuable World Cup trophy ever — at least in terms of its gold content.
According to the London Bullion Market Association, citing data presented by Refinitiv Metals Research, the FIFA World Cup trophy is made of 6.175 kg of 18-carat gold, equating to about 4.93 kg of pure gold. That makes it the world’s most valuable trophy by gold content, even including those from other disciplines such as the Nobel Prize and the Golden Globes.
Following a record-breaking rally in gold prices — now hovering near $5,000 an ounce — the trophy would contain over $700,000 worth of gold if it were hypothetically melted down today. Compared with the previous tournament, the trophy’s intrinsic value (in gold) has risen by more than 30%.
To illustrate gold’s epic rise over the past century, we calculated the changing value of the metal contained in the World Cup trophy using historical price data from the World Gold Council.
Graphic by James Alafriz.
$1M soon?
With major banks like JPMorgan forecasting prices to climb higher to above $6,000 this year, the World Cup trophy’s “value” could easily surpass the $1 million mark this summer.
While no winner gets to keep the trophy — with the notable exception of Brazil in 1970 — the winning nation does receive a gold-plated bronze replica, which of course would also be worth more than ever before.
Coincidentally, it was during the 1970s that gold prices began to be widely tracked in modern markets following the collapse of the Bretton Woods system, which ended the US dollar’s fixed link to the metal. Since then, gold’s price has surged by more than 12,000% — a meteoric rise that is difficult to ignore and even harder to rival.
With every ounce of gold now worth more than ever, so too is anything that contains it — including the world’s most sought-after sporting trophy.