World Cup 2026: FIFA introduces championship rings for winners (and fans!) — here’s how much they could cost
The captain and coach will receive provisional versions immediately after the final
Football purists may want to look away now. FIFA is about to give the beautiful game a very American makeover, and the prize for winning the 2026 World Cup could include something far flashier than a medal.
Championship rings are coming to football.
With the final between Spain and Argentina set to take place at MetLife Stadium, FIFA is embracing the tournament’s North American setting with a tradition more commonly associated with the Super Bowl: Enormous, outrageously expensive jewellery designed to announce, quite loudly, that you won.
And these are not the sort of rings you pick up at a stadium gift shop. FIFA is producing just 2,026 of them, with 30 reserved for members of the winning team. The captain and coach will receive provisional versions immediately after the final, while their fully customised and resized rings will follow later, as explained by ESPN.
The rest: They will be available to the public, assuming, of course, you have a spare fortune sitting around and have always dreamed of wearing a World Cup trophy on your finger.
The design is suitably extravagant. One side features the iconic World Cup trophy, while the other is customised to reflect the winning nation. Each ring will also come with a certificate of authenticity, presumably to settle any awkward questions about why you are suddenly wearing what appears to be a small jewellery shop on one hand.
FIFA has not yet revealed the final price tag, but estimates suggest each ring could be worth around $150,000. That is roughly Dh550,000 for a piece of championship memorabilia — or, depending on where you live, a home, a very nice car and several years of rent.
The price is expected to come from a combination of precious metals and gemstones, with estimates pointing to 14- to 18-karat gold, diamonds, rubies and sapphires. In other words, subtlety was clearly not invited to the design meeting.
And if FIFA decides to keep the rings exclusive to the 2026 tournament, their rarity could make them even more valuable over time. For now, though, there are only two realistic ways to get one: have an extremely healthy bank account — or somehow find your way into the Spain or Argentina squad before the final.
Good luck with that.
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