The Six Sexiest Sporting Trophies

The World Cup Trophy has been in use since 1974

In today's This Week in Football, Adrian North tells the compelling story of the Jules Rimet trophy. In response, Stephen Tudor scours the world and picks out the six easiest-on-the-eye sporting cups...

Claret Jug

As sleek and classy as a Jaguar S Type, each glistening curve evokes a time when men opened doors for women (except in the clubhouse, of course).

The old girl still looks gorgeous for 142, especially considering she's been breathed on with more cigar smoke than a Knightsbridge call-girl. Or rather her replica has; the original resides at the R&A in St Andrews, a monument to a very British elegance.

Stanley Cup

Otherwise known as the Holy Grail, this is a trophy steeped in legend. The iconic bowl that sits atop the imposing five-banded barrel has been used to baptise a player's new-born in the past while Lynn Patrick of the New York Rangers urinating in it supposedly prompted a 54 year Championship curse on the club. The cup has even found itself perched next to a stripper's pole in a post-win celebration before now.

In more recent times it's flown to Afghanistan and been knocked off a balcony by William Shatner. If it could talk, just imagine the tales it would tell. 

Giro D'Italia

The 'never ending trophy' grows every year with the addition of each new winner though presumably this will have to stop at some point, if only for the sake of practicality.

For now though it is a golden helter-skelter of beauty and madness that's typically Italian and well worth cycling through the muscle-sapping Alps to attain. 

FIFA World Cup Trophy

Commissioned for the 1974 finals to replace the Jules Rimet given permanently to Brazil, the World Cup MkII has many detractors. For one thing it's not a cup. For another it is reputed to be hollow. Logistically too there are flaws, not least the fact there is only room for three more winners before FIFA get commissioning all over again.

So why is it included here? Because aesthetics and prestige always win out. The sculptured athletes rising from nothing to capture the world perfectly denote the ultimate glory, and one day an English lad currently still in school will raise it aloft and then we'll all understand.

Then, finally, we will swoon at its allure.

Borg-Warner Trophy

The winner of the Indianapolis 500 was never going to be given a dainty trinket and so it is that the Borg-Warner is a supersized edifice of silver flamboyance. 

With the faces of previous champions etched onto the distinctive chessboard design the dimpled behemoth is now far too cumbersome to continue the tradition of placing it onto the victor's car. 

So it stands beside him, a double-act of racer and prize, posing for an iconic image that's shared around the world. 

Commissioner's Trophy 

Made by Tiffany & Co, the winners of the World Series in Major League Baseball clutch to their chest what is less a trophy and more an exquisite work of art. Resembling a gilded birdcage with the bars made up of gold-plated flags representing all participating teams, it's a rare example of America doing tasteful and understated. Who knew?