The trophy has been on a world tour ahead of the World Football Championship in Qatar, and it arrived in Split with tight security measures in place, accompanied by the tour's ambassadors, football legends Marco Materazzi and Robert Jarni, who will play a match with children from the Down 21 Split association in the city's Republic Square (Prokurative) at 6 pm Sunday.
Materazzi recalled having won the trophy as part of the Italian national team in 2006 while Jarni recalled having been a member of the Croatan national team that won the third place at the 1998 FIFA World Cup tournament in France. He also recalled Croatia's second place at the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia.
World Cup winners retain the trophy only until the post-match celebration is finished. They are awarded a gold-plated replica rather than the solid gold original immediately afterwards. The replica features an engraving showing the year of the championship, the name of the host country and the name of the winning team.
The original trophy is made of solid gold and weighs 6.142 kg, and it depicts two human figures holding up the Earth. Sport fans in Croatia have already had the opportunity to see the FIFA World Cup trophy - in February 2014 it was put on display at Zagreb's Museum of Contemporary Art.