Two-time world champions Cafu (Brazil, 1994 and 2002) and Renate Lingor (Germany, 2003 and 2007) have unveiled the FIFA World Cup Trophy and the FIFA Women’s World Cup Trophy at the FIFA World Football Museum. The trophies will be permanently housed and exhibited at the museum, having previously been locked in a bank vault in-between World Cups. The trophy presentation also coincided with the first major event at the museum: a media day attended by over 130 representatives from around the world.
After nearly two years of construction work, the FIFA World Football Museum will open its doors to the public later this month on Sunday 28 February. An interactive world of multimedia experiences, the museum preserves football’s fascinating history and has over 1,000 objects, 1,480 pictures and 500 videos telling the captivating story of the international game and the FIFA World Cup – both male and female. With unique exhibitions, interactive stations, a 180 degree cinema, a dedicated games area and a giant pinball area, the CHF 30 million project has been designed to suit all ages.
The trophies unveiled by Cafu and Lingor will become a must-see attraction for sports fans across the globe. The footballers picked the trophies up at the Home of FIFA before escorting them to the museum in Zurich’s Enge district. Only world champions are permitted to touch the trophies without wearing gloves, so they will be kept in glass showcases within the museum.
“It is very touching to have the chance to bring the World Cup trophy to its new home in the museum,” Cafu said, who as an energetic full-back captained Brazil to World Cup glory in 2002. “Only those who have had the chance to touch this trophy know the kind of emotion it brings out in you when you lift it up. Bringing it to this museum just makes it all the more exciting.”
"It's an historic moment to have the trophies for men and women together for the first time,” Lingor said, a tactically astute midfield maestro for Germany. “Now they are in the museum and will stay here for quite a while. I am very proud that I was the one to carry the women's trophy and be part of this."
“We were very excited, and both proud and honoured to have had two such special guests as Cafu and Renate Lingor,” Stefan Jost said, the museum’s managing director. “To have two former world champions from two different nations and two different continents come together and present the trophies to the museum was really great. It meant a lot to us.
“We are very proud that these two trophies, probably the most important team-sport trophies, have now found a new home in our museum,” continued Jost. “They will be a magnet for every single one of our visitors. I think it was a good decision to unveil the trophies and the museum this way as most of our experts were present during the media tours and were able to help guide visitors and to show them what the museum is all about – football.”
The two trophies will be on permanent display in the museum until the FIFA World Cup Trophy will temporarily leave for the fourth worldwide FIFA World Cup Trophy Tour by Coca-Cola in 2017.
“The museum is fantastic,” finished Cafu. “You must come here for all the history of football, the history of the Seleção, how it all started, and you have the World Cup trophy. To set foot in this museum is to re-live the whole football world.”