The Viktoria, formerly spelled ''Victoria'', is a German

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

trophy which was awarded to the German champions from

1903 Events January * January 1 – Edward VII is proclaimed Emperor of India. * January 19 – The first west–east transatlantic radio broadcast is made from the United States to England (the first east–west broadcast having bee ...

1944 Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January 2 – WWII: ** Free French General Jean de Lattre de Tassigny is appointed to command French Army B, part of the Sixth United States Army Group in Nor ...

. It is modelled on

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

, the Roman goddess of victory, winged and flinging a wreath. Thus it is the smaller reproduction of a life size sculpture to be found in Berlin's Old National Gallery.

History

The ''Victoria'' was awarded to the German Football Association, the ''DFB'', in 1900 to commemorate Germany's participation in the 1900 Summer Olympics which were held alongside the 1900 World Fair in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

.Die "Viktoria"
''DFB'' website – The "Viktoria", accessed: 28 December 2015 Originally it was meant as a trophy for both the German association football and

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In it ...

champions A champion (from the late Latin ''campio'') is the victor in a challenge, contest or competition. There can be a territorial pyramid of championships, e.g. local, regional / provincial, state, national, continental and world championships, a ...

but it was first awarded to the inaugural German football champions

VfB Leipzig {{Short pages monitor