Croatian Artist Designs The Best FIFA Football Awards Trophy

Artist Ana Barbić Katičić with the FIFA trophy she designed (screenshot)

A Croatian artist has come up with the design for FIFA’s new trophy to honour the world’s best player.

The Best FIFA Football Awards will be held in Zurich on Monday 9 January 2017 with the new trophy designed by Zagreb artist Ana Barbić Katičić.

FIFA President Gianni Infantino last year appointed former Croatia captain Zvonimir Boban in a special adviser role, and it was Boban who then approached Katičić.

“At the start of September last year Zvone (Boban) called me and told me the idea. 15 minutes later I was sitting down doing my first sketches, because that is how it goes when you work with Boban. When he has an idea, he wants you to start right away”, Ana told daily Jutarnji list.

Ana says that Boban had a clear idea how the new trophy should look, and showed her the FIFA Wold Cup as a starting point. He wanted the new trophy to represent the idea of sport and football, its big tradition, and also the recognisable institution which FIFA is.

FIFA say the award is created by technology used for aeronautical design with precision to a 12,000th of a millimetre, with the old football on top representing the history of the sport.

Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi or Antoine Griezmann will lift the trophy for the first time as they are the finalists in the best player category. Ana will also be in Zurich at the awards.

50 per cent of the award is based on the votes of captains and coaches from national teams around the globe. The other 50 per cent is divided between a public ballot and submissions from more than 200 media representatives.

Other prizes on offer at the ceremony include the best coach, the Puskas award, the fair play award, the fan award and the best eleven.