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The 2026 FIFA World Cup will feature custom-made Superior Player of the Match trophies for each of the 104 matches in next year’s tournament.
With the help of Michelob Ultra and FIFA, trophy creator Victor Solomon will have his handcrafted trophies, first revealed on Thursday’s “Fox & Friends,” given to the stars of each game.
“No bulls—, this team and this opportunity has been one of the most fun creative collaborations I’ve ever had,” Solomon said in an interview with Pakinomist Digital.
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Argentina’s forward Lionel Messi lifts the FIFA World Cup Trophy as he celebrates with supporters to win the Qatar 2022 World Cup final during the soccer match between Argentina and France at the Lusail Stadium in Lusail, north of Doha on December 18, 2022. (Kirill Kudryavtsev/AFP via Getty Images)
“We get a partner who will come in and say, ‘Okay, we’re going to have this, we’re going to have this, and this is what we want it to look like. Here’s a boat board, a bunch of things that it’s going to look like’. I think with what we had done with [NBA] championship bottle earlier, I think maybe I had a little equity with the team, but Michelob Ultra came to me and said, “whatever you want to do.” And they really gave me the creative flexibility and freedom to explore what would be a relevant object for this honor.”
Solomon has created numerous trophies in the past, including the Larry O’Brien Trophy given to the NBA champions. For the last NBA Finals, he also designed the championship Michelob Ultra bottles that were given to the Oklahoma City Thunder to celebrate in the locker room.
“I’ve had the distinct privilege of being a part of such milestones in sports on the basketball side, and I think my partnership with Michelob Ultra was so much fun for both sides recreating the championship bottle. I think everyone was just like, ‘This was so great, we had such a fun time working together, let’s just run it back.’ And oh, by the way, it will be the biggest of the international scene. time,” Solomon said, “So it’s been a blast working with the team again to reflect on this honor and think about how we can elevate it to such an exciting moment.”
The trophy has an hourglass shape similar to the World Cup trophy, as well as a 26-degree slope on the top to represent the year of the tournament. There are also 104 facets representing the number of matches in the tournament.
Each “Superior Player of the Match” for all 104 World Cup matches will be awarded this trophy. (Michelob Ultra)
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On, and the slope at the top is open, a “narrative point” that Salomon wanted in the trophy for a very specific reason.
“We’ve heard from every player in every sport, every player wants cups where they can have that moment when they’re in the locker room and take drinks out of it,” Solomon said.
So expect some Michelob Ultras to be drunk out of the trophy. But Solomon said it’s a way for the athletes and fans watching at home to have some form of equality.
“Boys like you and me, when we’re done with our day, we might crack a Michelob Ultra, that’s our trophy for the day. ‘I’ve f—ing earned this s—. I’m going to relax a little.’ So when we looked at the formal approach to this trophy, we loved the idea that it was something that had the functionality to drink out of if someone wanted to go down that path, just to symbolize the parallel between the fans at home seeing this and having their own kind of trophy experience with Michelob Ultra and then what Michelob Ultra owns with their player when they also achieve that crown. So that was a very big part of it,” Solomon said.
And just as it’s celebrated with a beer, Solomon acknowledges the hard work that goes into it.
The 2026 FIFA World Cup promotion will be shown at MetLife Stadium following an announcement by FIFA on February 5, 2024 in East Rutherford, New Jersey. (Eduardo MunozAlvarez/VIS Press via Getty Images)
“When I talk to partners and I talk to leagues, I try to make sure they understand that these guys dedicated their lives in pursuit of this moment,” he said. “The object that represents getting to the mountaintop of that experience has to be as innovative and creative and thought-provoking as the players who are in pursuit of them. So to have a partner like Michelob Ultra and FIFA that really understood that it had some kind of appetite for that story to be told was really an exciting part of that process as well.”
