The FIFA World Cup is the largest sporting event in the world as a single sport.
On May 21, 1904, the first president of FIFA, a Frenchman, proposed the idea of organizing a World Cup for the leaders of national football associations and tasked his secretary to draft a document for this purpose. However, this plan was not implemented due to the small number of countries willing to participate.
Later, Mr. Le Remitte was elected President of FIFA and he worked hard to convince the leaders of the soccer world that a world soccer tournament could be comparable to the Olympic Games and could flourish.
On December 10, 1926, FIFA held a working meeting in Paris and four months later, a draft of the meeting was submitted to national federations. On June 5, 1927, at the FIFA Helsinki Conference, the Paris working meeting proposal was approved by 23 votes.
In 1956, at the FIFA Luxembourg meeting, the tournament's name was changed to the "Lemaitre Cup" in recognition of the great contribution of the former FIFA president, Frenchman Lemaitre, to the cause of soccer.
It was later proposed to combine the two names and call it the "World Football Championship - Remitte Cup". At a meeting of the delegates in Helsinki, the name was finally changed to "World Football Championship - Remitte Cup", or "World Cup" for short. The World Cup is held every four years.
A special prize, the World Cup, was created by FIFA for the winner in 1928. The cup was cast by a famous Parisian jewelry technician, Fleur. The model was the Greek legendary goddess of victory, Nikai.
The gold cup is 35 cm high, weighs 3.8 kg, is cast in gold-plated silver, and stands on a marble base. The cup is a mobile prize, and whoever wins the championship can keep the gold cup for 4 years. It must be returned to FIFA before the next Cup so it can be awarded to the new world champion.
Additionally, whoever wins the World Championship three times will receive the Cup permanently. However, by the time of the ninth World Cup in 1970, Uruguay, Italy, and Brazil had all won twice, so they all had the chance to possess the cup permanently. Brazil was the first to win it.
In May 1971, FIFA held a meeting to consider a new cup and, after reviewing 53 proposals, decided on a design of two Hercules men lifting the Earth with both hands.
This shape symbolizes the scale of the world's number one sport, and the new trophy was named the "Cup of Hercules". The Cup is 36.8 cm high and weighs 6.175 kg, of which 4.97 kg of the main body is made of genuine solid gold. The base is made of two layers of malachite, which is extremely valuable.
FIFA has stipulated that the new cup is a mobile prize, and no matter how many titles a team wins, they cannot take permanent possession of the cup. Underneath the base of the Cup is a plaque with the names of the 17 winning teams which will last until 2038.
The Cup of Power is the trophy of today's soccer World Cup and is the symbol of the highest honor in soccer, unlike any other trophy in the world in terms of construction, value, and preciousness.
