In 76 days, 32 countries will gather in Qatar for the 2022 FIFA World Cup, the very first edition of the Mundial to be held in the Middle East and the Arab World.
The 2022 FIFA World Cup will have seven past winners as Brazil and Germany lead the pack as the two most successful countries in the history of the competition.
Two trophies have been used since the inception of the Mundial in 1930; the Jules Rimet Trophy and the FIFA World Cup trophy.
The Jules Rimet Trophy was used from the inception of the competition in 1930 to 1970 before the current trophy (the FIFA World Cup trophy) was introduced in the 1974 edition in Germany.
Jules Rimet Trophy stolen in England
Twenty-six years after surviving the Second World War, the Jules Rimet Trophy was stolen in England ahead of the 1966 FIFA World Cup.
On March 20, 1966, the Jules Rimet Trophy disappeared from its display cabinet while the trophy was on exhibition at the Methodist Central Hall in Westminster. The display was part of the Stamps Stanley Gibbons Stampex rare stamp exhibition.
The thief, according to reports, stole the trophy while a church service was being conducted in the same building. He left behind the rare stamps, which was worth over three million pounds.
A ransom was made to the UK law enforcement agencies by an individual claiming to be called Jackson, who was later identified as Edward Betchley, a petty thief with prior records.
Jackson demanded 15,000 Pounds for the return of the trophy and included a removable lining from the top of the trophy as proof of possession, but the trophy was not in his possession when he was apprehended by the police after being trapped with fake money and scraps of paper.
He claimed after interrogations that he didn’t steal the trophy and was only acting as a middleman for an elusive individual he referred to as ‘The Pole', but the Police never found the man behind the theft, and Jackson was sentenced to two years imprisonment.
Pickles finds the missing trophy
Despite the inability of the police to trace the Pole as identified by Jackson, the trophy was found by David Corbett, a Thames lighterman, and his dog Pickles, who were out on a walk in the Beulah Hill district of southeast London.
"As Corbett stopped at a telephone booth to make a phone call, the four-year-old canine sniffed out a package wrapped with newspapers and strings under one of Corbett’s neighbor's cars."
Corbett, according to his statement to the police initially thought it was a bomb but saw that it was the missing trophy after he gathered the courage to unwrap the package.
“I picked it up and tore some paper and saw a woman holding a dish over her head and disks with the words Germany, Uruguay, Brazil. I rushed inside to tell my wife. She was one of those anti-sport wives. But I said, ‘I've found the World Cup! I've found the World Cup!’” Corbett recalled his reaction to the Guardian years later.
Corbett eventually went on to hand the trophy over to the local police station and was detained for a while on suspicion that he might have been involved in the theft.
Both Corbett and Pickles were detained after handing over the trophy to the local police station because they were suspected to have been involved in the theft.
They were released before they had an alibi who corroborated their whereabouts at the time the trophy was stolen.
Pickles and his owner, Corbett, became big-time celebrities after saving England from an international scandal and disgrace.
The Three Lions of England ended up winning the 1966 FIFA World Cup, and Pickles, along with Corbett were invited to the team’s celebration banquet to crown the victory.
Author: Joel Eshun
A photo of Pickles the dog and Jules Rimet Trophy