Description

The 2018 FIFA World Cup will be the 21st FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial international football tournament contested by the men's national teams of the member associations of FIFA. It is scheduled to take place in Russia from 14 June to 15 July 2018. This will be the first World Cup ever held in Eastern Europe, and the first held in Europe since 2006.

The 20 World Cup tournaments have been won by eight different national teams. Brazil have won five times, and they are the only team to have played in every tournament. The other World Cup winners are Germany and Italy, with four titles each; Argentina and inaugural winner Uruguay, with two titles each; and England, France and Spain, with one title each. The current champion is Germany, which won its fourth title at the 2014 tournament in Brazil.

The World Cup is the most prestigious association football tournament in the world as well as the most widely viewed and followed sporting event in the world, exceeding even the Olympic Games; the cumulative audience of all matches of the 2006 FIFA World Cup was estimated to be 26.29 billion with an estimated 715.1 million people watching the final match, a ninth of the entire population of the planet.

What's really special about this coin bar is it has a unique, curved shape - a reference to the Mexican wave.

Obverse

Fourth crowned portrait of HM Queen Elizabeth II facing right, wearing the Girls of Great Britain and Ireland tiara.

The Girls of Great Britain and Ireland tiara was a wedding present in 1947 from her grandmother, Queen Mary, who received it as a gift from the Girls of Great Britain and Ireland in 1893 on the occasion of her marriage to the Duke of York, later George V. Made by E. Wolfe & Co., it was purchased from Garrard & Co. by a committee organised by Lady Eve Greville. In 1914, Mary adapted the tiara to take 13 diamonds in place of the large oriental pearls surmounting the tiara. At first, Elizabeth wore the tiara without its base and pearls but the base was reattached in 1969. The Girls of Great Britain and Ireland Tiara is one of Elizabeth's most recognisable pieces of jewellery due to its widespread use on British banknotes and coinage.

Engraver: Ian Rank-Broadley

2018
10 DOLLARS
3 oz AG 999
IRB
SOLOMON ISLANDS

Reverse

Depicts a football player charging down the pitch with the ball in front of an excited crowd doing a Mexican wave. At long bottom is the caption 2018 FIFA WORLD CUP RUSSIA™. On the left of the design are the LAOLA and 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia™ emblems.

The wave (known as a Mexican wave in the English-speaking world outside North America) is an example of metachronal rhythm achieved in a packed stadium when successive groups of spectators briefly stand, yell, and raise their arms. Immediately upon stretching to full height, the spectator returns to the usual seated position.

The 1986 FIFA World Cup in Mexico was broadcast to a global audience, and the wave was popularized worldwide after featuring during the tournament. The finals in Mexico was the first time that most people living outside North America had seen the phenomenon. As a result, English speakers outside of North America call the phenomenon a "Mexican wave". In Germany, Italy, and other countries the wave is called "la ola" (or simply ola) from the Spanish word for "wave".

FIFA World Cup
Russia™ 2018
LAOLA
2018 FIFA WORLD CUP RUSSIA™

Edge -
Characteristics
Type Commemorative Issue (Non-circulating)
Material Silver
Fineness 0.999
Weight 93.31 g
Diameter -
Width 45 mm
Height 90 mm
Thickness -
Shape rectangular
Alignment -

Related coins

4th portrait

2018 Football (Soccer) World Cup in Russia

Silver, 31.1 g, ⌀ 40 mm
4th portrait

2018 Football (Soccer) World Cup in Russia

Gold, 7.78 g, ⌀ 21.69 mm