It is the moment all Bayern fans are looking forward to, when Philipp Lahm officially receives the Meisterschale, the German championship shield, from DFL president Dr Reinhard Rauball after the match against Hannover 96. The task is not to be taken lightly – literally, as the shield is the heaviest trophy in German football.
The names of all German champions since 1903 are engraved on the trophy, with FC Bayern now appearing 26 times. The championship shield has been used since 1949 as a replacement for the Viktoria, the trophy that went missing in the Second World War. The shield was designed by Professor Elisabeth Treskow and her students at Kölner Werkschulen, a series of arts colleges in Cologne. It was made from 5.5kg of Sterling silver and decorated with five large and eleven small tourmalines (175 carats in total).
By 1981 there was no space left, so gold and silversmith Adolf Kunesch from Rodenbach widened the trophy by nine centimetres with an additional silver ring incorporating five tourmaline cabochons (71.98 carats) in a gold setting. As the initial expansion would have only sufficed until 2011, Kunesch replaced the five gravure panels with bigger ones in 2009. There is now enough space for new club names until approximately 2026.
Since the remodelling, the “salad bowl” as it is sometimes referred to in jest weighs a hefty 11kg and has a diameter of 59 centimetres. Its nominal insurance value is €50,000 but its real value is considerably greater.
