Benjamin Mendy Auctions World Cup Trophy: A Controversial Decision
Benjamin Mendy has never been far from the spotlight. This time, it is not for a tackle, a trophy, or a court case, but for a decision that cuts right to the heart of football’s relationship with glory and memory.
The 2018 World Cup winner has sold his official replica of the World Cup trophy – the one handed to every champion after France’s triumph in Russia – at auction. The piece went under the hammer in the Global Football Auction Part 2, run by US memorabilia specialists Goldin, and fetched 62,000 dollars, around 54,000 euros.
A symbol of the highest peak in the sport, traded like any other collectible.
The reaction was instant. Outrage, disbelief, moral lectures. How could a player give up something so sacred? Mendy did not stay silent for long.
He went straight to Snapchat.
“Is this my trophy or yours?” he fired back. “In the end it belongs to me, and I do with it as I please.”
No apology. No softening of the message. Just a blunt reminder: the medal, the memories, the replica – they are his.
Then came the sarcasm, relayed by France’s RMC. “And on top of that, it was taking up far too much space in the cupboard.” The line dripped with irony, a deliberate jab at those treating the replica as a holy relic rather than an object on a shelf.
And he did not stop there. Mendy even teased that the sale might not be a one-off. “And by the way, I still have more titles up for sale,” he added, hinting that more pieces of his career could soon be on the market.
For a player whose CV once looked like a fast track to the elite, the idea of offloading trophies feels jarring. Before controversy engulfed his life, Mendy’s rise had been rapid and spectacular. He won Ligue 1 with Monaco in 2017, part of that thrilling, fearless side that tore up France and shook Europe. Manchester City moved quickly, paying 58 million euros to bring him to the Premier League, a fee that made him the most expensive defender in the world at the time.
Silverware followed in England. Between 2017 and 2023, Mendy collected eight trophies with City, including four Premier League titles. He also broke into the France national team, earning 10 caps and a place in Didier Deschamps’ squad that conquered the world in 2018. The World Cup replica he has just sold represented that moment, that squad, that summer.
Then everything collapsed.
In 2021, Mendy faced several charges of rape and attempted rape. His career stopped overnight. He spent more than two years out of the game, including time in detention, while the case dragged through the courts. The cloud over his name felt permanent.
In July 2023, the court cleared him of all charges. Legally, he walked out a free man. Professionally and personally, the scars remained.
His return to football has been quiet, almost anonymous compared to the noise that once surrounded him. No grand stage, no Champions League nights. He resumed his career with Lorient in France, then moved on to Zurich in Switzerland, and now finds himself at Pogon Szczecin in Poland, where he is under contract until June 2027.
The trajectory tells its own story: from world record fees and World Cup glory to rebuilding in relative obscurity across Europe’s secondary leagues.
Against that backdrop, the sale of a World Cup replica takes on a different tone. For some, it will look like sacrilege. For others, it is the act of a man who has seen his life turned inside out and no longer places the same weight on a piece of gilded metal, however symbolic.
What is clear is that Mendy is no longer trying to conform to anyone’s idea of what a World Cup winner should be. He has chosen to cash in on a symbol of his past while insisting, loudly and unapologetically, that it is his right to do so.
The replica has changed hands. The debate around what that says about him – and about football’s obsession with icons and relics – is only just beginning.
