Going for the gold: The World Cup trophies, explained

It’s the biggest single-sport tournament the world over, and yet a key element of all the fuss is a trophy that isn’t all that large compared to others (looking at you, Stanley Cup).

Also, if we’re being technical, the trophy awarded to the winner of the World Cup isn’t even a cup.

Let’s break down the trophies being handed out at the World Cup.

To be fair to the name of the tournament, the original Jules Rimet Trophy, named after the longest-serving FIFA president, the man who proposed the competition in the first place, was a cup. In 1983, it was stolen and has never resurfaced.

The new trophy created to take the place of the Jules Rimet also took his name, but it wasn’t a replica of the original trophy. Instead, it was completely redesigned. The cup element was no longer a feature. It is now a globe atop two figures.

Despite not being particularly large, it is quite heavy. That’s because it is made mostly of 18 karat gold and malachite.

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It is awarded to the winning team after the final match and usually held aloft triumphantly by the team’s captain.

This award is given to the player judged to be the best in the tournament by the FIFA technical committee and members of the media who vote from a short list provided by the FIFA committee. Following the Olympic style, there are silver and bronze balls awarded to the runner-up and third-place finishers.

The Golden Ball has been awarded since 1982 (though the technical committee also evaluated past tournaments and decided retroactive winners), and winners include Diego Maradona, Brazil’s Ronaldo, and Lionel Messi, who notably won it in 2014, although his Argentina squad did not prevail the tournament.

There isn’t voting done for this award — it is simply earned by scoring the most goals at the World Cup. If players are tied when the tournament ends, the first tiebreaker is the player who scored the most goals from the run of play, instead of via a penalty kick.

The most common number of goals scored by the winner of the Golden Boot is six, which has been the winning total eight times.

The official award for the best goalkeeper in the tournament has existed since 1994. This one is determined by the FIFA technical committee, and although saves are taken into great consideration, the award is not given automatically to the goalkeeper who has the most saves.

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The FIFA technical committee awards this honor to the person deemed the best player at the World Cup who is 21 years of age or younger when the tournament is played.

It remains, thus far, the only major FIFA World Cup award a United States men’s national team player has ever won, when Landon Donovan claimed it in 2002. The United States reached the quarterfinals of that tournament.

However, midfielder Claudio Reyna, the captain of the American squad that same year, did make the FIFA all-tournament squad named at the end of the competition.

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It so happens that he is the father of Gio Reyna, a member of the current U.S. team. Gio wasn’t born yet when his father and Donovan played in the 2002 World Cup, so he is eligible for the Young Player award at age 20 and has the skill to possibly win it if he has a good tournament.