The Best Football Trophies

Football is one of the most popular sports in the UK, with an estimated 2.1 million of us playing at least twice a month, according to Statista. 

That’s a lot of cups, competitions and leagues – which means a lot of awards, trophies and medals too – and finding inspiration can be difficult.

Do in this article, we’ll take you through a wide range of different types of football trophy, from the categories you might use, to the styles of award, including:

• Different Types of Trophies in Football
• Football Trophy Ideas
  • Perpetual Awards
  • Classic Football Trophies
  • Modern and Unique Football Trophies
• How much does a Football Trophy Cost?
• Can I Design My Own Football Trophy?
• How to Choose the Right Football Trophy

This should give you all the advice and information you need to be able to get the perfect football trophies and medals for your league, tournament or event.

Different Types of Trophies in Football

We’ll start by looking at the different reasons people might win an award in football, from awards for match performance, to classic “golden boot” and “golden glove” awards for specific achievements:

Football Champions Trophy

Trophies for winning a league, cup or tournament are often the most prestigious of all! A champions trophy can come in a wide range of styles, from classic cups to modern acrylic, metal and even wooden designs.

The most common style for this award is usually a classic silver cup like the FA cup or Champions League trophy.

Player of the Match 

Presented to the individual who made the most impact in a particular game. There’s typically a Player of the Match award for most games, from junior events right up to the World Cup Final.

Golden Boot 

A “golden boot” award is typically for the top scorer in a league or competition. The most famous golden football boot trophy is given to the top scorer in each World Cup, but it has become a classic trophy design for top scorer awards.

Golden Gloves

The goalkeeping equivalent of a Golden Boot trophy, Golden Gloves are awarded to the keeper who’s had the best performance, perhaps by conceding the fewest goals or keeping the most clean sheets in a tournament or league.

Player of the Year Awards

There are dozens of different types of Player of the Year awards, and they’re often awarded or voted for by different groups such as other players, journalists, managers, parents, club staff or the public in general.

Most clubs finish each season with an awards night, and present their best performing players and staff with trophies, like these Liverpool FC awards.

Referee and Match Official Awards

In every football league or tournament, the hard-working match officials should get some recognition too, as a way of thanking them for their contribution, without which the game simply wouldn’t function.

Fantasy Football Trophies 

Fantasy football team managers enjoy awards too, league organisers can honour highest points scorers, manager of the month or title winners.

Football Coach Trophies

From the infamous Manager of the Month award, to trophies to thank the hard work of junior coaches, managers and coaches deserve recognition too!

Football Medals

People often overlook medals, but actually they’re one of the most common awards in football. As well as winner’s medals, there are often medals for runners-up and even just participants.

Football Awards Ideas

When you’re looking for a great football award design, it’s important to think about the style you’d like to go for.

There are several classic designs, like football cup trophies, football shield trophies and medals, but there’s also a lot more unique and unusual trophy designs to choose from as well.

But how do you go about choosing the right award for you? 

The first question you need to ask is whether this award is something that’s given once, and kept permanently, or whether it’s something that will be returned and awarded to a different team or person each year. This second type of trophy is known as a ‘perpetual award’.

What is a Perpetual Award?

A perpetual cup, trophy or award is simply one that is passed on from winner to winner, with a new engraving or badge for each victory at the end of each season or year.

The most famous awards and trophies tend to be perpetual awards, for example the Jules Rimet, the Ashes and the Claret Jug. 

Many of these perpetual trophies are engraved each year with the winner’s name, either directly onto the trophy, or as a small badge. And so a perpetual trophy design often has to be created carefully to allow for space for that list to grow.

It’s also very common for a perpetual trophy to come with either miniature or replica football trophies, or another type of award, such as a medal, which can be kept permanently.

Classic Football Trophies

The classic football trophy cup is probably the most recognisable style of award, and while its shape stays familiar, they do come in a range of sizes and finishes.

Silver cups are always popular, but gold football trophies are very popular too. We’re even seeing more and more cups in a brushed finish, rather than a traditional high polish, bringing a more modern feel to this traditional design.

Modern and Unique Football Trophies

With the benefit of computer aided design and modern manufacturing  technologies, the scope for high quality trophy design and manufacturing has no boundaries. And today more people are looking for unique shapes and more modern materials for their football awards.

Acrylic Football Trophies

Acrylic is an incredibly popular choice for a modern trophy, and opens up a whole new world of design possibilities. That’s because it is so versatile, and can be cast, moulded, turned or machined into a huge variety of shapes.

It’s also a popular option if you’re interested in a sustainable trophy – at least it is with EFX! We offer the option of using 100% recycled acrylic in our trophies, and can recycle your old trophy as the end of its life too.

Acrylic is also a great choice for personalised football trophies, as it’s the perfect base for digital printing as well as engraving, so you can create exactly the design that you want.

A great example of an acrylic football trophy is the SWPL award, printed with the league colours and using multiple acrylic layers to create a striking, impressive trophy.

Wooden Football Trophies

Another material that’s been rising in popularity over the past few years is wood. Sustainably sourced wood is another great option for people looking to lower their environmental impact – particularly if you’re looking for a large number of football medals and trophies.

Glass Football Trophies

Another popular trophy material is glass, which is a more traditional style for tournaments and football man of the match trophies.

Glass can be a good choice for an engraved football trophy, and with modern manufacturing methods it can even be coloured or digitally printed for a more up to date, unique finish.

Award Collections

Another great option is to create a collection of different types of trophy that you can use for various awards. 

By creating different awards around a central design, you can build a collection that’s got a central theme and connection, while still retaining individual styles for different awards.

A great example of this is the Chelsea Partner Cup, which includes a main trophy, awards for players of the tournament and participation medals too.

Combined Material Awards

Another very popular style of award is one that includes a combination of different materials, such as metal and acrylic, or wood and acrylic.

By combining materials, you can get a great contrast in texture and look which can really bring a design to life.

Logo trophies for football

One of our favourite designs for a unique look for a football trophy, is using inspiration from a logo or brand. This often creates a more modern look, and allows you to explore different shapes and styles for your design.

One of our favourite versions of this is the WSL Continental Cup, which uses the WSL logo within the design.

How Much Does a Football Trophy Cost?

As with all trophies, the cost will depend on a number of factors, from the number you need to the material and design you go for.

For example, if you’re looking for  a large number of kids’ football trophies, you might want to consider a more affordable option like our off the shelf wooden medals.

These look amazing and can be customised with digital printing, making them a big step up from cheap plastic trophies without being too expensive.

However, if you’re after a unique design for a prestigious award, a bespoke trophy is definitely worth considering – particularly if you want a perpetual award that will be passed on year after year.

A bespoke award will almost certainly come at a higher price than an off the shelf option, but enables you to create a completely original design that’s perfect for your event.

Can I Design My Own Football Trophy?

Absolutely! Whatever the level of input you’d like, there’s a great option for you.

If all you need is personalisation through engraving or digital printing, then an off-the-shelf trophy could tick all your boxes.

If you’ve got some great ideas you’d like to be brought to life, then tell us all about them, and we can advise on the best way to create the award you want within your budget and timeframes.

Or, if you aren’t sure what you’re looking for, just get in touch with our expert trophy designers, and we’ll come up with some original ideas for you!

How to Choose the Right Football Trophy

Whether you’re after something abstract and conceptual, inspired by a real world example, a trophy based on your own logo or branding, or a classic style with a modern twist, you can bring your trophy ideas to life. 

You may simply want to have a logo and branding incorporated into your trophy choice, or have ideas that you’d like an expert trophy designer to give you some inspiration. Whatever you need, there’s a fantastic range of options for you.

Bespoke trophies are designed in-house to your exact specification, brand and budget. You could choose trophies in different sizes, then present larger versions to top category-winners and smaller trophies to other categories or runners-up. 

Or you could have a main trophy and offer customised medals, plaques or an off-the-shelf design for other participants.

The choices are endless, and if you’re not sure about the level of design input you need, or what options are right for you, just get in touch with our friendly team and we can help!