Cartier to create Champions League winners trophy

Televisionpoint.com Correspondent | Mumbai
The Champions League 20:20 have commissioned French brand Cartier to create the trophy for the winners of the Champions League to be played in Mumbai, Bangalore and Chennai from December 3 to 10, 2008.

The hand-sculpted trophy will measure 41 cm in height, with a diameter of 31 cm and weighs 7 kilos. The trophy will be unveiled in December just prior to the inaugural match of the League.

Lalit Modi, chairman, Champions League, said, "It was an great choice for us to commission Cartier for creating a exquisite work of art, one befitting the stature of crowning the champion of champions in domestic club cricket. I am certain that this Cartier trophy, will definitely take pride of place in the Trophy cabinet of any of the eight teams contesting the inaugural League."

Bernard Fornas, president and CEO, Cartier International, said, "C for Cartier, C for Cricket are two simple seven-letter words that encapsulate passion and a union between elegance. These adjectives also in a nutshell capture the very essence of the trophy's design, which articulates a balanced equation of precious materials resulting in a remarkable design."

Manu Sawhney, managing director, ESPN Star Sports, adds, "The League is a global tournament where only the best will get to compete for the ultimate honour and it is only befitting that they compete for one of the exquisite trophies ever crafted."

Eight teams, consisting of the winners and runners-up from the domestic Twenty20 competitions in India, Australia and South Africa, plus the Twenty20 champion Sialkot from Pakistan, and the Twenty20 Cup champion from England, Middlesex, have been invited to contest the Champions League 2020.