The Champions League trophy weighs 7.5 kg, stands 73.5 centimetres tall and does not stay with the winner after the final whistle.
What captains and teams lift above their heads in the immediate aftermath is actually the original. Under the terms of the contract, however, it remains the property of UEFA. What winners take home permanently is an official replica, which every winning team receives.
In this blog you will find all the facts: dimensions, materials, history, value and what fans can actually buy.
How Heavy Is the Champions League Trophy?
The official weight is 7.5 kilograms.
That sounds manageable until you consider that the person lifting it has just played 90 or 120 minutes of high-intensity football and is expected to raise it one-handed above their head.
By comparison, the Bundesliga Meisterschale weighs around 11 kilograms, making it noticeably heavier than its European counterpart. Visually, the two trophies could hardly be more different: the Champions League trophy tall and upright, the Meisterschale flat and wide. That the heavier of the two happens to be the flatter one surprises most people.
How Big Is the Champions League Trophy?
73.5 centimetres tall. That makes it one of the largest trophies in European club football.
By comparison, the DFB-Pokal measures just 52 centimetres and the FA Cup around 61 centimetres, and the Champions League trophy comfortably exceeds both. Stand all three side by side and you quickly get a sense of just how dominant the UCL trophy looks in proportion.
If you ever get the chance to see it at an exhibition, the actual size tends to catch people off guard. On television it looks smaller because the context is missing: stadium lighting, the pitch and the crowd around it all make the trophy appear to shrink. In person it is an entirely different experience.
What Is the Champions League Trophy Made Of?
The trophy is made of 925 sterling silver. The replicas, by contrast, are silver-plated and considerably less valuable.
It was designed by Swiss goldsmith Jürg Stadelmann, who established the form we know today in 1966. Between 1967 and 2002 it was produced by Koch & Bergfeld in Bremen, before an Italian manufacturer took over production.
The original is more intricate than it first appears. The curved handles, the stepped base, the fine surface texture are not milled but assembled by hand. If you have ever wondered why a licensed replica carries a corresponding price tag, this is part of the answer.
"The Trophy with the Big Ears"
"Big Ears" is a term most commonly heard in the English-speaking world, though it needs little explanation: the nickname comes from the curved handles on either side of the trophy. It was never adopted officially, but it has stuck among fans all the same.
Honestly, "the trophy with the big ears" is an underwhelming nickname for what is Europe's most coveted club prize. But the best nicknames are not born in a marketing department. They come from the stands.
History: When Was the Champions League Trophy First Awarded?
In 1955/56, under the name European Cup of Champion Clubs. Real Madrid won it in each of the first five editions in succession, a record that no one has managed to repeat since.
In 1992, the competition was renamed the UEFA Champions League and fundamentally restructured: a group stage replaced the pure knockout format, more clubs were included and significantly more money was involved. The trophy itself remained.
The current design dates to 1966, when the original was redesigned. The basic form has stayed the same ever since. What has changed is the base, which has been extended several times to accommodate the names of all the winners. From the 2024/25 season, 36 clubs rather than 32 take part in the league phase. None of that changed the trophy itself.
What Is the Champions League Trophy Worth?
You can calculate the material value precisely. The trophy is made of 925 sterling silver and weighs 7.5 kilograms. With a pure silver content of 92.5 per cent and a silver price of around €900 per kilogram, the pure material value comes to approximately €6,200. The exact figure moves with the daily silver price, but the order of magnitude stays the same.
What makes the trophy worth far more than that is what the numbers behind it tell you. UEFA pays out around €130 million in prize money to the Champions League winner. On top of that come increased sponsorship revenue, higher ticket prices and a global status boost that continues to pay off for clubs in the years that follow. In that sense, the trophy in 925 sterling silver represents something worth many times its own weight.
No one has ever auctioned off the original, so there is no market valuation based on real transactions. What does appear at auction are memorabilia from the competition's surroundings: shirts, match balls, winners' medals. The trophy itself remains UEFA property and is not for sale.
Who Receives the Champions League Trophy?
The answer surprises many people: no one gets to keep the original, not even the winner.
What is lifted into the air on the pitch immediately after the final whistle is the real trophy. Those are the images that travel around the world, and in those moments the players are holding the actual original. After that, it goes back to UEFA.
What winners take home permanently is an official replica, and that applies to every winning team without exception. Whether it is a club's first or fifth title, every side that wins the Champions League receives a licensed reproduction of the original.
Buying the Champions League Trophy: What Fans Can Actually Get
What applies to clubs applies equally to fans: anyone buying a Champions League trophy is buying a replica. It is the only way for fans to get hold of a trophy like this.
What matters is which replica. We are proud to sell officially licensed UEFA products in our shop. Working closely with UEFA, we determine exactly how these replicas are built, from the level of detail and available sizes through to the materials used.
For football fans who want to see the trophy up close without needing a ticket to the final, the licensed replicas from Am Ball are the right choice.