How much is the Champions League trophy worth? All you need to know about iconic cup
There are few more iconic pieces of silverware in professional sport than the Champions League trophy. ‘Ol’ Big Ears’ unmistakable design matches its status as one of the most prestigious and historic accolades in the club game.
But how much do you actually know about the trophy that’s been lifted by legendary figures including Franz Beckenbauer, Johan Cruyff, Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo and Steven Gerrard?
We’ve got you covered for all the key facts and information about the Champions League trophy.
History of the Champions League trophy
Most commonly known as the European Cup from the eponymous competition prior to the big ‘Champions League’ rebrand in 1992, the trophy is officially called the European Champion Clubs’ Cup, translated from the original Coupe des Clubs Champions Europeens.
The French language origins go back to its conception by legendary football outlet L’Equipe of stingy player ratings fame – not to be confused with French magazine France Football, responsible for the Ballon d’Or.
The newspaper donated the original trophy, handed out in the 1950s, and eventually awarded permanently to Real Madrid in recognition of their five-in-a-row trophy triumphs from 1955 to 1960. That original trophy is on display in Real Madrid’s museum.
There have been a further four versions of the same design, with the current trophy – held aloft by Chelsea, Real Madrid and Manchester City in recent years – has been in use since 2006.
Who keeps the trophy?
Back in the late 1960s, UEFA introduced a rule stipulating that if a club wins the competition three years in a row or five times in total, they get to keep the cup.
That’s why the trophy that Liverpool lifted in Istanbul in 2005 – the club’s fifth – remains part of their trophy cabinet today. Ajax, Bayern Munich and AC Milan are also proud holders of original European Cup trophies.
But in 2008, UEFA revised its rules and decided that they themselves would hold onto it indefinitely. Unlucky for Barcelona, who claimed a fifth Champions League in 2015 but were unable to keep the trophy.
The same trophy is now lifted by a club at the end of each season and then returned to the governing body for the rest of the year.
But a full-size replica trophy is awarded to every winner – with the club’s name engraved upon it.
Winning clubs are also permitted by UEFA to make further replicas of their own, but they must clearly be marked as such and are only allowed to be eighty per cent the size of the real thing.
How big is the Champions League trophy & how much does it weigh?
The current Champions League trophy stands 73.5cm tall and weighs 7.5kg.
To put that in context, that’s about 30cm smaller than the Premier League trophy (104cm) and over three times lighter. No wonder Didier Drogba was able to mimic flying with it after winning it in 2012.
What materials is the Champions League trophy made of?
The current design of the trophy was commissioned by UEFA General Secretary Hans Bangerter in 1967 after the original was given to Real Madrid.
It was designed in Berne, Switzerland – conveniently close to UEFA’s headquarters – by local jeweller Jurg Stadelmann. It’s made of silver and took Stadelmann 340 hours to make.
“My father Hans and I went along to Herr Bangerter’s office and covered the whole floor with drawings,” he said of how the design came together.
“He made comments like, ‘The Bulgarians would like the bottom of that. The Spaniards would like this but the Italians would prefer that and the Germans would go for this.’ We put the design together like a jigsaw puzzle.”
How much is the Champions League trophy worth?
Sports apparel brand Canterbury estimate that the Champions League trophy is only worth about $15,000 (about €13,200 or £11,100).
Using the same source’s figures, that makes it about 1/66th as valuable as the FA Cup, estimated to be worth in the region of $1million.
The World Cup, by contrast, is made of 18-carat gold mounted on two layers of malachite and has an estimated value of a whopping $20million – making it over a thousand times more valuable than the Champions League trophy.
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