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Rabat- With only five days until the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, football fans all over the world are eagerly anticipating the world’s largest football tournament, with every football team fighting for the winning title and the golden trophy.
Ahmed Ait Sidi Abdelkader, a Moroccan living in Italy, is one of the people who work behind the scenes to help create the 18-carat gold World Cup trophy.
Abdelkader has participated in the making of the iconic gold trophy since 2002. The craftsman helped create the trophy for six World Cups: 2002 in South Korea and Japan, 2006 in Germany, 2010 in South Africa, 2014 in Brazil, 2018 in Russia, and the upcoming 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
Born in the Moroccan city of Ouarzazate, Abdelkader now lives in Milan, Italy. He works for the Italian company GDE Bertoni, a trophy and medal manufacturer famous for making some of the most prestigious sports medals and trophies, including the FIFA World Cup Trophy.
According to SNRT News, Abdelkader is considered the person who contributed the most to the World Cup’s preparation and decoration, including both the original, and its identical copy.
The same source added that “he personally oversees its [the trophy] decoration and restoration due to weather damage every four years, repainting it with pure gold, and making it in the most beautiful, glamorous, and shining suit for viewers.”
The first FIFA World Cup trophy was sculpted by Milan-based artist Silvio Gazzaniga in 1971. FIFA reports that the trophy is made of 18 carat gold, and that it is 36.8cm high and weighs 6.175kg. The base is 13 cm in diameter.
The famous trophy cost around $50,000 at the time of its manufacture, and it’s now reportedly valued at around $20 million.
Morocco will be participating in the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, as one of four Arab teams that have qualified for the competition.
Walid Regragui, the national team’s head coach, selected 26 football players for the World Cup, including Hakim Ziyech, Abderrazak Hamdallah, Achraf Hakimi, and Bilal El Khannouss, among others.
The World Cup draw put Morocco in Group F along with Belgium, Croatia, and Canada. The national team’s first World Cup game will be against Croatia on November 23, followed by a match against Belgium on November 27, and a third one against Canada.
Read Also: Jordan’s Coach Sees Moroccan Squad as ‘Dark Horse’ in World Cup
