SheBelieves 2021 Tournament: USA Wins and Hoists Our Cup Again!
The Story Behind the Custom Sports Trophy
In 2019, the United States Soccer Federation reached out to us with a special request. We had previously worked together on the League of Nations's US Women’s League Soccer Friendlies awards, and they were looking for a slight redesign of their SheBelieves Cup trophy.
We were thrilled to create a sculpture award that encapsulated the power of the SheBelieves movement, which was originally inspired by the U.S. Women's National Team in their 2015 run-up to the Women's World Cup.
In greater detail, the SheBelieves movement is dedicated to female empowerment. It is meant to encourage young females to achieve their dreams, regardless of whether or not they are tied to athletics. This campaign has evolved into a bond between U.S. soccer and its fans, as this theme of empowerment has spread to communities across the country.
This 2021 SheBelieves Cup is the sixth edition of the SheBelieves Cup, which is given to the winner of an invitational women's football tournament held in the United States, featuring the top players in multiple countries.
The round-robin tournament began on February 18 and ended on February 24, 2021. This year the teams included Canada, Brazil, Argentina, and hosts United States.
The U.S. Women’s National Team won in emphatic fashion with a 6-0 victory against Argentina. The team successfully defended their title, capturing their fourth title and first victory where the opposing team was scoreless.
The Sculpture Award: Freestanding Silver Plated Cast Bronze
The federation’s goal was to recreate their existing sculpture award, which turned out to be tricky, according to our Account Supervisor Mollee.
Their existing design was a combination of sort, both hand-sculpted and seemingly to have a printed or lathe wood model for the top.
“It seemed to be mushed together without a real world capability transition,” mused the Account Supervisor Mollee.
“Our lead designer was able to utilize his program capacity and marry the traditional approach to sculpture award design with advanced technology. This gave us the ability to produce a real-world extruded star that transitions into a circular inverted soccer ball.”
The Award Details:
This unique custom design is based on a three-dimensional representation of the event logo.
The bottom of the sculpture features curved crested ridges that join midway to form a smooth cylindrical cup.
A recessed soccer ball is sculpted into the top of the cup.
The sculpture was cast in bronze, and then nickel plated.
A sublimated plate with crests of the participating teams was created for the bottom of the cup.
The sculpture stands 19.5” tall.
