President Varela First Panamanian To Hold FIFA World Cup Trophy

Last week, the FIFA World Cup Trophy Tour made a stop in Panama City. The Panama national team made history by qualifying for Russia 2018, a feat that the country has never experienced.

The 18-karat, 13-pound, solid gold trophy was presented to President Juan Carlos Varela by France 1998 winner David Trezeguet. Varela was able to hold the trophy before receiving a replica that is customary of the tour. He expressed his gratitude for being the first Panamanian to hold the trophy and also for being able to accept the Cup on behalf of his people.

"Panama loves and supports sports in general, but soccer is what they love the most," stated Varela.

Panama started out in Round 4 of the regional qualifiers, being drawn into Group B alongside Jamaica, Haiti, and Costa Rica. It was last October that Panama qualified for the 2018 World Cup Russia after Roman Torres scored the decisive goal to beat Costa Rica 2-1. Panama finished third in the CONCACAF qualifying group.

Panama has now been drawn into Group G along with England, Belgium, and Tunisia. This group has the lowest cumulative FIFA ranking with no. 53 Panama, no. 23 Tunisia, no. 5 Belgium, and no. 16 England. Los Canaleros will first face Belgium on June 18th in Sochi. The World Cup betting odds for the Belgium vs Panama match have the Red Devils favored to win, with +1200 betting odds on the Panamanians. Belgium is also the favorite to be the FIFA World Cup Group G winner.

Panama may have +100000 longshot odds to win, but if there’s anything that the Miracle of Bern taught us, it’s that huge upsets can happen.

With a few months until Russia 2018 officially commences, the World Cup trophy still has several more stops to make. The locations include Costa Rica, Mexico, the United States, Germany, Mongolia, China and Japan before it reaches Vladivostok, Russia, on May 1.