Despite missing out on a place among the 32 teams which competed in this year's FIFA World Cup in Qatar, Italians are claiming they still made it to the final.
The trophy raised by Argentina yesterday was made in a small town just outside of Milan.
The first trophy was manufactured by Valentina Losa's grandfather, Eugenio Bertoni, in the early 1970s.
“In early 1900, my great-grandfather founded G.D.E. as a little laboratory in Milan's city centre but it was under my grandfather, Eugenio Bertoni, that the factory gained its international success winning the bid to produce the medals for the 1960 Olympics in Rome," Ms Losa tells SBS Italian.
Nowadays, Ms Losa is the CEO and owner of the company that specialises in trophies, medals, and commemorative plaques, the fourth generation in her family to head up the operation.
Since the World Cup was first held in 1930, two trophies have been used: the Jules Rimet Trophy from 1930 to 1970, and the FIFA World Cup Trophy from 1974 to the present day.
After Brazil won the World Cup for the third time in 1970, FIFA decided to redesign the trophy, Ms Losa said.
Silvio Gazzaniga in 1971 while working on some prototypes of the FIFA World Cup trophy. Credit: Wikipedia
"My grandfather asked the then-artistic director of the company, Silvio Gazzaniga, to produce a series of sketches.
"After selecting the final design, my grandfather decided to make a plaster cast of it which was something rather visionary - back in the days 3D wasn’t really a thing."
Mr Bertoni and Silvio Gazzaniga then flew to FIFA's headquarters in Zurich, and, according to Ms Losa, presented not just the sketches but the plaster cast which contributed to them winning the contract.
"To create a universal symbol of the harmony of the sports world, I took inspiration from two fundamental images: the triumphant athlete and the world," said the late sculptor and designer Mr Gazzaniga on presenting his work.
“I wanted to obtain a concrete representation of the effort that could simultaneously express harmony, sobriety, and peace.”
The trophy represents two players that are reaching their arms up in the triumphant joy of victory. It holds within its dynamism, strength, speed of action, sport and emotional effort, and the exultation of finding yourself on the top of the world.Silvio Gazzaniga
Besides the World Cup, Mr Gazzaniga - who passed away in 2016 - was also the creator of the UEFA Super Cup and the UEFA/Europa League Cup.
The first World Cup trophy was created in 1971 and was lifted aloft for the first time by the West Germany soccer team at the 1974 FIFA World Cup.
The cup is one of the most expensive trophies in sporting history: it is made of 18-carat gold with bands of malachite on its base, stands 36.8 centimetres high and weighs 6.175 kilograms.
"It takes around three months to create the cup. After casting the pieces, a team of 10 artisans assemble the best pieces to accurately fit together and then finish the cup by chiselling it by hand," Ms Losa said.
Ms Losa with the World Cup trophy.
She says she left a piece of her heart in Australia when she did her master’s at the University of Canberra in early 2000.
"To watch the cup being raised is a huge honour," Ms Losa said.
"I am thrilled to see our creation being so coveted and seeing the joy of those who made it, you feel you too are part of the winners' joy."
Listen to Valentina Losa interview in Italian
Gli Azzurri non si sono qualificati, ma l'Italia sarà alla finale dei Mondiali
SBS Italian
17/12/202211:36
