World Cup

Plus: The World Cup's most unlikely hero wasn't a superstar player — it was a collie named Pickles.

By Hayden Bird

June 26, 2026 | 2:11 PM

3 minutes to read

Share

Send this article to your social connections.

You’re reading Boston.com’s World Cup 2026 newsletter. Sign up for everything you need to know about the tournament, including watch parties and things to do around Massachusetts, tickets and transportation options, and more.

You might not know this, but there have been two different trophies used in history to mark the World Cup champions.

The current one, straightforwardly titled the “FIFA World Cup Trophy,” is an appropriately grandiose golden symbol of soccer immortality. Yet from the tournament’s inception in 1930 until 1970, world champions were handed a different version: The Jules Rimey Trophy, named for FIFA’s longest serving president who had been the original World Cup organizer.

The actual term “Coupe du Monde” (World Cup) makes more sense when you see the original, a golden cup with its own colorful history, — one that culminated with its still-unresolved theft in 1983 in Brazil (after the nation, having won the World Cup three times, had been allowed to officially keep the original trophy following the introduction of its newer version).

But before the 1983 theft, there was another brief scare in 1966 shortly before England hosted the World Cup for the first (and still only) time. Set on display in March, four months before the tournament kicked off, it was stolen from London’s Westminster Central Hall.

This was obviously a national scandal, drawing intense coverage for over the course of a week as authorities pursued the thief (eventually identified as Edward Betchley). But despite apprehending Betchley, the trophy remained missing.

Enter Pickles, a four-year-old black and white collie dog, and obviously the hero of this story. Out for a walk with owner David Corbett in South London, Pickles happened upon an odd looking (and smelling) package under the front wheel of a parked car.

There, wrapped in old newspaper, was one of the most coveted trophies in the world.

Pickles was rightfully hailed the savior of the World Cup and the pride of England, and Corbett (after initially receiving suspicion from authorities), was eventually given more than £6,000 as a reward.

Several months later, England defeated West Germany 4-2 to win what remains their only World Cup title. And there, standing proudly at the team’s hotel celebration, was Pickles (who,  The Guardian noted, was a “special guest of honor”).

Like much of England’s winning team, Pickles became something of a celebrity, even featuring in a 1966 comedy, “The Spy with a Cold Nose.” 

The story has an admittedly sad ending, as Pickles only lived until 1967 (meeting an untimely death while reportedly chasing a cat near his home in Surrey). Yet the heroic dog’s legacy remains, and even includes a plaque that was installed in 2018.

For all of the debate over the country’s goal-scoring capacity of defending, perhaps England just needs to find another heroic dog before they can win the World Cup again?

Trivia

Brazil was allowed to keep the original trophy after winning it for an unprecedented third time in 1970. Since then, three other countries have achieved this feat (winning the men’s edition of the tournament at least three times). Can you name those countries?

Hint: Two European, one South American.

Keep reading for the answer.

Stoppage time

The incident resolved by Pickles wasn’t the only dramatic moment that the Jules Rimet Trophy navigated in its history. During World War II, the trophy was located in Italy (who had won back-to-back World Cups in the 1930s prior to the outbreak of war). Italian soccer official Ottorino Barassi snuck it out of Rome during the war and smuggled it in a shoebox to his home (where he successfully hid it) to keep it out of the clutches of the Nazis.

Trivia answer: Italy, Germany, and Argentina