The original Federation of International Football Association (FIFA) World Cup gold trophy will be arriving in Uganda on the 5th March 2018 before a public viewing opportunity on the subsequent day at the Lugogo Cricket oval in Kampala.
This trophy, for starters is made of 18 karat gold with a malachite base, standing at 36.8 centimeters high and weighs 6.1 kilograms.
The FIFA World cup trophy is the competed for by all the 211 FIFA member associations (Uganda inclusive) with the successful 32 finalists engaged in a three week’s tournament to determine the winner.
Before this prestigious tournament and arguably one of the most televised sporting event (2014 final reached 3.2 billion viewers globally), there is that famous trophy tour.
This tour traverses across 91 cities, in 51 countries with all the six continents covered.
The FIFA World Cup trophy tour is spanning more than 92,000 miles (126,000KM).
This year’s tour kicked off on 23rd January 2018 in Colombo, Sri Lanka and will end on May 1st in Vladivostok, Russia.
Kampala city, the capital of the pearl of Africa nation, Uganda is among the cities ear marked to host the entourage and the original trophy which was made by Stabilimento Artistico Bertoni company in Italy.
Uganda is among the lucky 10 African countries where the tour will cover.
For the two days that this well protected trophy will be in Uganda, all the global attention shall definitely focus to this East African land country, a rich hub of raw football talents back in the days of the legendary Ibrahim ‘British’ Dafala to the newly borns in the wombs.
The FIFA World Cup trophy tour will in a way boost sports tourism and the entire tourism sector as a whole.
There is no better way to sell a nation globally and draw massive attention than engaging in sports.
Personalities of people from all walks of life are inclined to the unique and magnificent power of sports in particular football.
The FIFA world cup being the epitome of football world over judging from the ever escalating prize monies attached and public interest.
A quick reminder, the FIFA World Cup 2018 winners will get $38 million in prize money with the total payments to the teams will be around $400 million 40% increase.
Photo opportunities and numerous selfie moments with the trophy will act to further garner public interest in the trophy proper.
This in fact, is a motivational tool of its own.
From the young aspiring footballers, those already in business and the retiring crop as well, the trophy is a big motivation for Uganda Cranes to toil and play at the FIFA World Cup finals.
The private sector, parastatals and the general government will be tasked to further invest heavily in infrastructure and related stuff in a bid to promote football.
A quick glimpse at this gold trophy, which was introduced in 1974 depicts two human figures holding up the Earth
This alone creates the euphoria and hype for everyone to get closer, take a critical look at the trophy and get associated with the trophy.
Kampala and the rest of Ugandans are eagerly awaiting for the FIFA World Cup trophy come March 5th and 6th 2018.
This year’s FIFA World Cup tournament shall take place in Russia come June 2018.
Ahead of the World Cup, each competing team will be paid $1.5m to cover preparation costs.
Once in Russia, each of the 32 teams will be guaranteed a participation fee of $8m.
Progressing through to the first knock-out stage boosts the prize to $9m while a quarter-final finish is worth $14m.
In the much-derided third place play-off, $42m is shared between the two sides with the victor taking home $22m.
Runners-up in the final can console themselves with a $25m prize as the winners enjoy their $38m.
Germany is the reigning champion whilst Brazil is the record winners with five titles.
No African country has ever reached the semifinals of this tournament played every four years.
2018 FIFA WORLD CUP TROPHY TOUR
DESTINATION DATE
- Colombo, Sri Lanka January 23-24
- Male, Maldives January 24-25
- Phuket, Thailand January 26-27
- Vientiane, Laos January 28
- Macau, China P.R January 29
- Nukualofa, Tonga January 31
- Honiara, Solomon Islands February 1
- Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea February 1
- Lahore, Pakistan February 3
- Almaty, Kazakhstan February 4
- Bishkek, Kyrgyz Republic February 5
- Dushanbe, Tajikistan February 5
- Tashkent, Uzbekistan February 6
- Ashgabat, Turkmenistan February 7
- Yerevan, Armenia February 7
- Tblisi, Georgia February 8
- Baku, Azerbaijan February 9
- Valetta, Malta February 10
- Vienna, Austria February 11
- Minsk, Belarus February 13
- Sofia, Bulgaria February 14
- Tel Aviv, Israel February 15
- Larnaca, Cyprus February 16
- Ramallah, Palestine February 17-19
- Amman, Jordan February 20
- Dubai, United Arab Emirates February 21
- Khartoum, Sudan February 22-23
- Addis Ababa, Ethiopia February 24-25
- Nairobi, Kenya February 26-27
- Maputo, Mozambique February 28
- Johannesburg, South africa March 1-2
- Cape Town, South Africa March 3
- Kampala, Uganda March 5-6
- Abuja, Nigeria March 7-8
- Lagos, Nigeria March 9-10
- Dakar, Senegal March 11-12
- Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire March 13-14
- Cairo, Egypt March 15-16
- Naples, Italy March 17-19
- Paris, France March 20-21
- Cologne, Germany March 22-23
- Oslo, Norway March 24
- Torshavn, Faroe Islands March 24-25
- Reykjavik, Iceland March 25
- Tucuman, Argentina March 27-28
- Berazategui, Argentina March 29
- Buenos Aires March 30-31
- Rosario, Argentina April 1-2
- Bogota, Colombia April 3-5
- Panama City, Panama April 6
- San Jose, Costa Rica April 7-8
- Guadalajara, Mexico April 9-10
- Monterrey, Mexico April 11-12
- Mexico City, Mexico April 13-15
- New York, USA April 16
- Miami, USA April 17
- Los Angeles, USA April 18-20
- Frankfurt, Germany April 22
- Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia April 23
- Beijing, China P.R April 25
- Shanghai, China P.R April 26
- Tokyo, Japan April 27-28
- Osaka, Japan April 29-30
- Vladivostok, Russia May 1
