From the smallest World Cup championship until 1970, the winners of the World Cup were presented with the Jules Rimet Trophy, originally called the World Cup ( or Coupe du Monde, in French ). Designed as a solid gold winged figure of Nike, the Greek Champion of Victory, created by French sculptor Abel Lefleur, in 1946, the cup was renamed later Jules Rimet, the FIFA luminary credited with establishing the first tournament.
In 1970, hard by having won the World Cup three times, Brazil was allowed to reserve the World Cup trophy in its teams ' possession permanently in assent with an early specification for teams to acquire continuing possession in the holiday of three WC wins. However, the team actually only maintained possession of the trophy until 1983 - that year, it was stolen from its display box at the Brazilian Football Association in Rio de Janeiro and has never since been recovered, believed to have been melted down by its thieves. A German goldsmith created a copy for the association to display, which was donated by Kodak of Brazil. The Cup had been stolen and recovered before - once in 1966, for ransom just before the start of that year ' s World Cup finals in London, but was soon recovered by a dog named Pickles who followed the scent of the trophy to a garden hedge where the thief had aimed to conceal it. Then years later, its top had stolen by a young spectator in the midst of the Brazilian team ' s 1970 celebration, but had also been recovered soon after.
With the Brazilian team ' s entitlement to keep the original trophy permanently, 1970 introduced a new trophy, called the FIFA WC Trophy. FIFA experts from seven countries evaluated 53 models, and settled upon the design of Italy ' s Silvio Gazzaniga, whose design was about 14 inches tall, 13 pounds, and made of solid 18 carat gold as a sculpture of two athletic figures rising in victory, arms stretched out with the earth hoisted above them. Engraved on the bottom of the trophy are the years and names of each FIFA World Cup winner since 1974. In 2042, when the name plaque of the current trophy becomes full - with only enough capacity for the names of the 17 winners from the 1974 - 1938 World Cups - the trophy will be retired permanently to the FIFA headquarters, and a new trophy will be introduced.
The winning nation enjoys possession of the sports award until the following year ' s championship, when it will be passed along to the new champions. After giving up possession of the original solid gold trophy, however, the winning team receives a gold - plated replica to keep. Before 1978, the eleven players who were on the pitch at the end of the final and third place match also received medals. Now each year ' s top three teams ' players and coaches receive gold ( for winners ), silver ( for runners - up ), and bronze ( for 3rd place ) medals with a WC Trophy insignia. In 2007, FIFA announced that the winning World Cup team members from 1930 - 1974 would also be granted medals retroactively. After the 2002 WC, 4th place medals were also presented, to the team for the Cup ' s hosts, South Korea.
