It’s the real thing!

Hundreds of football fans, including Cook Islander Vania Kenning (pictured), were lucky enough to see the FIFA World Cup trophy up close and personal this week at Auckland’s Sky City Convention Centre.

Kenning is based in Auckland where she is the Oceania Football Confederation ‘Just Play’ consultant.

Kenning and a team of officials have been charged with implementing the junior soccer Just Play programme across the Pacific.

The FIFA World Cup Trophy Tour by Coca-Cola began its journey from the FIFA headquarters in Zurich, Switzerland on September 21 last year.

It is visiting 84 countries and travelling over 138,902km, or more than three times the circumference of the earth.

The distinctive trophy is 36.8cm high, weighs just over 6kg and is made of solid, 18-carat gold.

The base contains two layers of semi-precious malachite, while the bottom side of the trophy is engraved with the year and name of each FIFA World Cup winner since 1974.

Solid gold smile, page 7