THE MOST COVETED PRIZE IN FOOTBALL

FOR THE LOVE OF GOLD: Stolen twice, recovered once, the World Cup trophy has a colourful history

WITH its golden colour and creative design that unites the countries of the world, the FIFA World Cup trophy remains a milestone in the history of all players who seek the honour of achieving it on the podium with their countries in the greatest football tournament in history.

In a few days, 832 players representing 32 teams in the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 will aim to lift this trophy at the end of the championship.

Since the start of the World Cup in Uruguay in 1930, two different trophies have been used to crown the winning teams.

Originally dubbed the “Victory Trophy,” the first trophy was renamed “Jules Rimet Trophy” in honour of the first president of the French Football Federation, former FIFA president, and French lawyer Jules Rimet, who is described as the godfather of the World Cup. The cup was constructed with gold-plated sterling silver.

French sculptor Abel Lafleur designed the first World Cup trophy.

After Brazil won the World Cup for the third time in 1970, they were awarded the Jules Rimet Trophy permanently as stipulated in the FIFA laws that the first team to win the Cup thrice would get to keep the trophy perpetually. The trophy was placed at the headquarters of the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) headquarters inside a bulletproof glass cabinet. On Dec. 20, 1983, Brazil was shocked to find out that the trophy was stolen. It has not yet been retrieved to this day.

After Brazil retained Jules Rimet Trophy in 1970, FIFA decided to make a new trophy iteration. Sculptors from seven countries sent in 53 submissions for the new design but eventually, it was commissioned to Italian artist Silvio Gazzaniga, who worked at the time in the Bertoni manufacturing company as a medal-maker.

The new trophy was stolen again in England, in 1966. But unlike in Brazil, in 1966 the trophy was recovered. Pickles the dog came to the rescue seven days after the theft, discovering the trophy wrapped in newspaper outside the front garden of a house in Upper Norwood, south London. To this day, no one knows how it got there.

From the World Cup in Germany in 1974 to the World Cup in South Africa in 2010, the number of names engraved on the base of the World Cup reached 12 winning teams. The future of the cup is not yet known after each of the names fills the plate at the bottom, which will not happen before the 2038 World Cup.

WHAT A PICKLE: England lost, found and won the World cup in a single year