The USA’s World Cup dream may have come to an end last night, but the tournament’s sense of wonder is still drawing crowds in New York City. Looming above Rockefeller Plaza is a giant replica of the Fifa World Cup trophy. Rather than gold, however, it is built from more than 1.3 million Lego bricks.
It is the latest in the Lego Group’s portfolio of spectacular mega-builds, following projects such as the life-sized Formula 1 cars unveiled at last year’s Miami Grand Prix. The brick-built World Cup trophy is one of the largest Lego models ever constructed, rising 8.47m (27ft) tall, weighing approximately 4.2 tonnes and comprising 1,363,402 bricks (for comparison, the recently revealed Lego Sagrada Família, the largest set by piece count in Lego’s history, had a mere 12,060 bricks).
Over eight months, at the Lego Group's model production facility in Kladno, Czech Republic, a team of 59 designers, engineers, model builders and assembly technicians spent more than 7,000 hours recreating the trophy. Hidden beneath its Lego-brick exterior lies an internal steel skeleton weighing around 3.5 tonnes, providing the strength needed to support the massive installation.
Getting it to Manhattan was an engineering exercise in its own right. The completed model had to be dismantled into 16 sections before being shipped across the Atlantic and reconstructed at Rockefeller Plaza. The largest transport pallets measured 230x230cm, while the heaviest individual section was around two tonnes.
The final brick was placed yesterday (6 July 2026) by Brazilian football legend Cafu, who was joined by supporters representing nations competing in the tournament. Their ceremonial finishing touches officially opened a new ‘Lego Fan Zone’, where visitors can participate in building challenges, contribute to a football-themed brick mural and design personalised minifigures at the Lego Store on Fifth Avenue.
Not quite the real thing, but the Lego trophy is its own fitting piece of World Cup theatre – built brick by brick from contributions across the globe, for everyone to enjoy.