It might not be a surprise to you that some soccer players like to buy jewellery. They are some of the highest-paid athletes in the world.
Yet, a niche in the jewellery industry, supplying players with commemorative pieces, is a concept that is a long way from reaching its potential.
Soccer players compete for various pieces of silverware every year. They can achieve individual records, team records, or dramatically escape relegation.
All of these moments can be worthy of celebration. And the notion of commemorative jewellery — namely the championship ring — is creeping into soccer outside of the United States.
Mirroring their contemporaries across the pond, some footballers are commissioning the creation of celebratory rings to mark their biggest achievements, heralding the beginning of a jewellery-based cultural shift.
So how has the championship ring begun to be embraced in European soccer? Why are footballers paying for them? And who is making them?
Championship rings are a custom in every major American sports league: the NBA and WNBA (basketball), the NFL (American football), MLB (baseball), and the NHL (ice hockey). College sports, the most common development route taken for professional athletes in the United States, also present them, as does U.S. soccer in MLS and…
