Messi posted a photo of falling asleep holding the Hercules Cup on IG, which is a replica.

(taken from IG)

[Reporter Wu Mengru/Taipei Report] The picture of Argentine star Lionel Messi falling asleep holding the coveted Hercules Cup has attracted fans to like it wildly. In fact, this is not the real product, but a replica specially made by FIFA for the award-winning players .

The first trophy of the World Cup was the "Rimite Cup", which was made of sterling silver and gold-plated. It weighed about 3.8 kilograms. It was stolen in 1966 and was recovered a week later. However, Brazil won the championship for the third time. The trophy was taken away, but it was stolen again in 1983. It is rumored that this trophy has been melted down and sold.

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The second-generation World Cup trophy "Hercules Cup" has been used since 1974. "The Athletic" reported that it cost about 50,000 US dollars to produce at that time, and according to the subsequent gold price trend, the current production cost is about 250,000 US dollars. Due to The trophy is not for sale. The value of the trophy is estimated to fall at 20 million US dollars. It is currently the most expensive trophy in the sports world, and it will also be placed at the FIFA headquarters in Zurich, Switzerland.

As for the trophies currently held by the players, they are all replicas, and they are also different in size. The real one is about 36.6 centimeters, and the replica will be smaller.

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