When the World Cup Went Missing: The 1966 Trophy Theft

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In March 1966, four months before England hosted the World Cup, the Jules Rimet Trophy was stolen from a stamp exhibition in Westminster, London. For a week it was missing, a ransom was demanded and a man was arrested, until on 27 March a dog named Pickles found it wrapped in newspaper in a south London street. England went on to win the tournament that summer, but the trophy’s troubles were not over: it was stolen again in Brazil in 1983 and has never been recovered.

The Jules Rimet Trophy

The first FIFA World Cup trophy was named after Jules Rimet, the French football administrator who led FIFA and championed the creation of the tournament. The cup, designed by the French sculptor Abel Lafleur, depicted a winged figure representing Nike, the Greek goddess of victory, holding up an octagonal cup. It was made of gold-plated sterling silver on a base of semi-precious stone, and it was relatively small, standing roughly 35 centimetres tall.

The trophy was first awarded to Uruguay in 1930. It survived the Second World War in Italy, where, according to a frequently told story, an Italian FIFA official kept it hidden from occupying forces. By 1966 it had been won by Uruguay, Italy, West Germany and Brazil, and as champions Brazil handed it over before the tournament in England.

On display in Westminster

Before the tournament the Football Association agreed to let the trophy be shown at a public exhibition organised by the stamp dealers Stanley Gibbons. The display, which focused on sport-themed stamps, was held at Methodist Central Hall in Westminster, a large building opposite Westminster Abbey. The trophy was reportedly insured as part of the exhibition and watched by security guards.

The theft: Sunday 20 March 1966

On Sunday 20 March 1966, the trophy disappeared. Its absence was discovered around midday. Accounts agree that the exhibition hall was open at the time but that security was lighter than might be expected: guards were on duty, yet the thieves found a way in through a rear door, removed the trophy from its glass cabinet and left without being seen. The building was also hosting a church service elsewhere at the time.

Notably, valuable stamps in the same exhibition were left untouched. Only the football trophy was taken.

The theft was an acute embarrassment for the FA and for Britain as host nation. News spread quickly around the world, and the Metropolitan Police launched a major investigation, with Scotland Yard detectives assigned to the case.

The ransom demand

The day after the theft, the chairman of the Football Association, Joe Mears, received a telephone call from a man who identified himself only by an alias and said the trophy would be returned in exchange for a ransom. A parcel then arrived containing the removable top lining of the trophy, as proof that the caller really had it, along with a letter demanding £15,000 and warning against involving the police or the press.

Mears contacted the police. Detectives decided to set up a handover, with an officer, Detective Inspector Charles Buggy, posing as Mears’s assistant. Bundles of fake money, with real notes on top, were prepared for the meeting.

The arrest of Edward Betchley

The meeting took place in south London. The man who came to collect the money became suspicious, and he was arrested after an attempt to get away. He was identified as Edward Betchley.

Betchley denied stealing the trophy. He told police he was only a go-between acting for another man, whom he referred to as “the Pole,” and he did not lead them to the cup. He was later convicted of demanding money with menaces and sentenced to two years in prison. Whether Betchley was the thief, a partner or simply an opportunist exploiting the situation has never been settled, and nobody else was ever charged with the theft itself.

With Betchley in custody and the trophy still missing, the situation was close to a crisis. The World Cup was due to start in July, and the FA faced the possibility of hosting the tournament without its trophy.

Pickles finds the cup: Sunday 27 March 1966

The breakthrough came exactly one week after the theft, from an unlikely source. On the evening of Sunday 27 March 1966, David Corbett, a Thames lighterman, took his dog Pickles, a black-and-white collie mix, for a walk near his home in Beulah Hill, Upper Norwood, in south London.

Pickles began sniffing at a package wrapped tightly in newspaper and tied with string, lying near the hedge and parked cars in the street. Corbett picked it up, tore back some of the paper and saw a gold figure and the names of past winners, including Brazil and West Germany. He took it to his local police station.

The police were initially cautious, and Corbett himself was questioned before his account was accepted. Once it was confirmed that the object was the genuine Jules Rimet Trophy, the story became a sensation. The week-long hunt had been ended not by detectives but by a dog on an evening walk.

Pickles the celebrity

Pickles became one of the most famous dogs in Britain. He was featured in newspapers and on television, received gifts and awards, and appeared in a feature film, the 1966 comedy The Spy with a Cold Nose. Corbett received reward money from several parties who had offered rewards for the trophy’s return.

After England won the World Cup, Corbett and Pickles were invited to the celebrations. Pickles’ fame did not last long in a happier sense: he died in 1967 in an accident, when his lead became caught as he chased a cat. He is buried in the garden of the Corbett family home. His story has since been retold in documentaries, books and anniversary features.

The replica

The theft prompted the Football Association to commission a replica of the trophy, made by a London silversmith, so that a substitute would be available if anything happened to the real one. The replica was reportedly used for some public occasions in place of the original after the tournament.

The replica later had its own afterlife. It was sold at auction in the 1990s and was bought by FIFA, and it has since been displayed in England, including at the National Football Museum. Its existence has fuelled persistent but unproven rumours about which trophy appeared on which occasion in 1966.

England’s World Cup victory

With the trophy safely back, the 1966 World Cup went ahead as planned. England, managed by Alf Ramsey and captained by Bobby Moore, reached the final at Wembley Stadium on 30 July 1966. They beat West Germany 4-2 after extra time, with Geoff Hurst scoring a hat-trick, still the only hat-trick in a men’s World Cup final until Kylian Mbappé matched the feat in 2022.

Bobby Moore received the Jules Rimet Trophy from Queen Elizabeth II. It remains England’s only men’s World Cup win, and the image of the trophy being held aloft is one of the best known in British sporting history.

Brazil keeps the trophy

Under the rules set when the trophy was created, any nation that won the World Cup three times would keep it permanently. Brazil, already winners in 1958 and 1962, won for a third time in Mexico in 1970, with a celebrated team including Pelé. The Jules Rimet Trophy went to Brazil for good, and FIFA commissioned a new trophy, the one still used today, for the 1974 tournament.

Stolen again in 1983

The Jules Rimet Trophy’s second theft had no happy ending. In December 1983 it was stolen from the headquarters of the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) in Rio de Janeiro, where it had been displayed in a cabinet. Several men were later convicted in connection with the theft, but the trophy was never found. It is widely believed to have been melted down for its gold, although this has never been proven.

Brazil later received a replacement replica. The original that Pickles found in a London street is presumed lost for good, which makes the 1966 episode all the more remarkable in hindsight: the cup survived one theft thanks to luck and a dog, only to vanish permanently less than twenty years later.

Why the story still fascinates

The theft of the Jules Rimet Trophy has the elements of a classic caper: a high-profile target, an anonymous ransom call, a police sting and an ending nobody could have scripted. It also captures something about 1966 itself, a year when English football reached its peak and when, for one week in March, the tournament’s most important object was lying under a hedge in Norwood.

Many questions remain unanswered. Who took the trophy from Central Hall? How did it end up in Beulah Hill? Was Betchley’s “Pole” real? Investigations and later books have explored these questions, but no definitive answers have emerged, and the official record leaves them open.

Frequently asked questions

When was the World Cup trophy stolen in 1966?

The Jules Rimet Trophy was stolen on Sunday 20 March 1966 from a stamp exhibition at Methodist Central Hall in Westminster, London. It was found a week later, on 27 March 1966.

Who found the stolen World Cup?

A dog named Pickles found it while out on a walk with his owner, David Corbett, in Upper Norwood, south London. The trophy was wrapped in newspaper near a hedge.

Was anyone convicted of the 1966 theft?

Edward Betchley was convicted of demanding money with menaces after trying to collect a ransom, and he was sentenced to two years in prison. He denied carrying out the theft, and no one was ever convicted of stealing the trophy itself.

Where is the Jules Rimet Trophy now?

Nobody knows. Brazil won it permanently in 1970, but it was stolen from the Brazilian Football Confederation’s offices in Rio de Janeiro in December 1983 and has never been recovered. It is widely believed to have been melted down.

What happened to Pickles the dog?

Pickles became a national celebrity, appeared in a film and was invited to England’s World Cup celebrations. He died in an accident in 1967.