The Philip F. Anschutz Trophy is a silver

trophy A trophy is a tangible, decorative item used to remind of a specific achievement, serving as recognition or evidence of merit. Trophies are most commonly awarded for sports, sporting events, ranging from youth sports to professional level athlet ...

that is awarded to winners of

MLS Cup MLS Cup is the annual championship game of Major League Soccer (MLS) and the culmination of the MLS Playoffs. The game is held in November or December and pits the winner of the Eastern Conference Final against the winner of the Western Confere ...

. Since the inaugural MLS Cup in 1996, three trophies have been used: the Alan I. Rothenberg Trophy from 1996 to 1998, a second version of the Rothenberg Trophy from 1999 to 2007, and the

Philip F. Anschutz Philip Frederick Anschutz ( ; born December 28, 1939) is an American billionaire businessman who owns or controls companies in a variety of industries, including energy, railroads, real estate, sports, newspapers, travel, movies, theaters, arena ...

Trophy since 2008. The trophy appears in the logo of the tournament, and was featured on the now-retired "

scudetto The ''scudetto'' (; Italian for 'little shield') is a decoration having the colors of the flag of Italy which is sewn onto the jersey of the Italian sports clubs that won the highest level championship of their respective sport in the previous ...

" that was worn by defending champions from 2009 through 2012.

Earlier trophies

The first MLS Cup trophy, introduced for the inaugural season in 1996, was named for league founder Alan Rothenberg. The trophy was phased out after three seasons, and a new trophy named after Rothenberg was introduced in 1999.

Current trophy

On October 29, 2008, Major League Soccer unveiled a redesigned trophy for MLS Cup, named after

, league co-founder and owner of multiple teams. The new trophy stands tall above a base, with two handles that have 11 facets each to represent the 22 players on the field during a match. The gold star represents the championship which typically becomes a permanent fixture of the winning team's crest with a star for each MLS Cup won. On the bottom side of the trophy is a map of North America with a star identifying the location of each MLS Cup-winning market. It weighs and is made of

sterling silver Sterling silver is an alloy composed mass fraction (chemistry), by weight of 92.5% silver and 7.5% other metals, usually copper. The sterling silver silver standards, standard has a minimum millesimal fineness of 925. ''Fineness, Fine silver'' ...

. The original trophy is kept by the champions for the offseason before returning to Major League Soccer headquarters in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

, while a duplicate is awarded to the club.

References

Awards established in 1996 Major League Soccer trophies and awards MLS Cup {{sports-award-stub

Earlier trophies

Current trophy

See also

References