The FIFA World Cup trophy is the most recognisable prize in sport, but its history is stranger than most fans realise. The trophy lifted by captains today is not the original: the first trophy was stolen twice, once recovered by a dog, and eventually disappeared for good. The current trophy, introduced in 1974, has its own rules, including one that means no nation can ever keep it permanently. Here is the story of both trophies.

The original trophy was called the Jules Rimet Trophy, named after the FIFA president who founded the World Cup. Designed by French sculptor Abel Lafleur, it showed Nike, the Greek goddess of victory, holding a cup aloft, and it stood just 35 centimetres tall. The trophy was awarded from the first World Cup in 1930, and FIFA decreed that any nation winning it three times would keep it permanently. Brazil earned that honour in 1970, after their third title, and the trophy was put on display at the Brazilian Football Confederation headquarters in Rio de Janeiro.

The trophy's first theft came in 1966, months before the World Cup in England. It was stolen from an exhibition in London, and after a nationwide search, it was found wrapped in newspaper under a hedge by a dog named Pickles, whose owner was walking him in south London. Pickles became a national celebrity, and the trophy was recovered in time for the tournament, which England went on to win. The second theft was not so fortunate: in 1983, the trophy was stolen again from its display case in Rio de Janeiro, this time cut from its base, and it has never been recovered. The Jules Rimet Trophy is presumed to have been melted down for its gold.

The current trophy was designed by Italian sculptor Silvio Gazzaniga and first awarded in 1974, when West Germany won the tournament on home soil. It shows two human figures holding up the Earth, stands 36.8 centimetres tall, weighs just over six kilograms, and is made of 18-carat gold with a base of malachite. Unlike its predecessor, the current trophy can never be won outright: FIFA's rules state that the original always remains FIFA's property, and winning nations receive a gold-plated replica to keep. The names of every winning nation since 1974 are engraved on the base, in the language of each winning country.

The trophy's history is a reminder that the World Cup is about more than football: it is about objects and stories that carry meaning across generations. The Jules Rimet Trophy's disappearance remains one of sport's great unsolved mysteries, and the Pickles story is retold at every tournament. The current trophy, with its engraved roll of honour, connects every winning captain from Franz Beckenbauer in 1974 to Lionel Messi in 2022. When the next captain lifts it, they join a lineage that stretches back nearly a century, through theft, recovery, and loss, to the very first World Cup in Montevideo in 1930.

A detail that surprises many fans is that the current trophy is not expected to last forever in its current form. The base of the trophy has space for the names of winning nations only until 2038, because each winner's name is engraved on a plaque around the base, and the plaques are filling up. FIFA will need to decide what happens next: whether to replace the base, redesign the trophy, or continue engraving in a new way. The trophy's design itself is protected: Gazzaniga's sculpture, showing two figures holding the Earth aloft, was chosen from 53 submissions in a 1971 competition, and it remains one of the most recognisable objects in sport. Winning captains lift the original trophy during the celebration, but the trophy they take home is a gold-plated bronze replica, while the original returns to FIFA's museum in Zurich. That arrangement, born from the theft of the Jules Rimet Trophy, ensures that the most famous prize in football can never be stolen again.