Germany Players Damage World Cup Trophy During Celebrations

The president of the German football federation, Wolfgang Niersbach, has admitted that their World Cup trophy was damaged during the team’s celebrations.

Image: Martin Meissner/ Associated Aress

The champions were seen celebrating their win with, among others, Rihanna, who was pictured holding the trophy, despite Fifa directives saying that only winners of the tournament and heads of state can touch it.

And now Niersbach has told Der Spiegel that the replica of the trophy given to the winners did not escape undamaged from that night in Rio. "A small piece was chipped off during the celebrations. But don’t worry. We have specialists who can repair this."

He added: "We have investigated the incident thoroughly but we did not get a result from that investigation."

It is not the first time a trophy has been damaged, of course. The Schalke sporting director, Rudi Assauer, once dropped the German Cup from a bus and the Dortmund players damaged the Bundesliga trophy in 2012.

Also Sergio Ramos dropped the Copa del Rey trophy while they were celebrating Real Madrid's 1-0 win over Barcelona in an open top bus parade in 2011.