NO OTHER sporting event captures the world's imagination like the World Cup. Ever since the first tentative competition in Uruguay in 1930, FIFA's flagship has constantly grown in popularity and prestige. A group of visionary French football administrators, led in the 1920s by the innovative Jules Rimet, are credited with the original idea of bringing the world's strongest national football teams together to compete for the title of world champions. The original gold trophy bore Jules Rimet's name and was contested three times in the 1930s, before World War II put a 12-year stop to the competition. When it resumed, the World Cup rapidly advanced to its undisputed status as the greatest single sporting event of the modern world. Held since 1958 alternately in Europe and the Americas, the World Cup broke new ground with the decision in May 1996 to select South Korea and Japan as co- hosts for the 2002 edition. Since 1930, the 17 tournaments have seen only seven winners. However, the World Cup has also been punctuated by dramatic upsets that have helped create footballing history -- the United States defeating England in 1950, North Korea's defeat of Italy in 1966, Cameroon's emergence in the 1980s and their opening match defeat of the Argentinean cup-holders in 1990. Today, the World Cup holds the entire global public under its spell. An accumulated audience of over 37 billion people watched the France 1998 tournament, including approximately 1.3 billion for the final alone, while over 2.7 million people flocked to watch the 64 matches in the French stadiums. After all these years and so many changes, however, the main focus of the World Cup remains the same -- the glistening golden trophy, which is the embodiment of every footballer's ambition. With the Jules Rimet Cup now in the permanent possession of Brazil after their third World Cup triumph in Mexico City in 1970, FIFA commissioned a new trophy for the 10th World Cup in 1974. A total of 53 designs were submitted to FIFA by experts from seven countries, with the final choice being the work of Italian artist Silvio Gazzaniga. He described his creation thus: "The lines spring out from the base, rising in spirals, stretching out to receive the world. From the remarkable dynamic tensions of the compact body of the sculpture rise the figures of two athletes at the stirring moment of victory". The current World Cup trophy cannot be won outright, as the regulations state that it shall remain FIFA's own possession. The World Cup winners retain it until the next tournament and are awarded a replica, gold-plated rather than solid gold. The new trophy is 36cm high, made of solid 18- carat gold and weighs 6,175 grammes. The base contains two layers of semi-precious malachite while the bottom side of the trophy bears the engraved year and name of each World Cup winner since 1974.
