The original Jules Rimet World Cup Trophy. It slipped through the grasp of the Nazis, was famously sniffed out by Pickles the dog, and was later stolen from Brazil in 1983 and believed to have been melted down into gold bars. And yet, a mystery worthy of Sherlock and Poirot still lingers.Could the original World Cup trophy still be out there, hiding in plain sight?
The last time it was held aloft in front of an ecstatic crowd of supporters was in 1970
That,s Brazil’s captain Carlos Alberto holding the Jules Rimet trophy aloft after his side beat Italy in the 1970 World Cup final.
When the tournament began in 1930, FIFA ruled that any nation to win the World Cup three times would keep the trophy permanently. After Brazil’s iconic demolition 4-1 of Italy in the 1970 final in Mexico ( video highlights here ),that condition was fulfilled.The Jules Rimet Trophy was handed over for good to the Brazilian Sports Confederation (CBD), known today as the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF).
Here’s a 11 year old report on the story.
The romantic theory is that a copy or substitute was melted, and the real trophy is still hidden somewhere. There’s no solid evidence for this. The FBI are keeping schtum about it – so far.
It’s just football folklore that refuses to die.