December 19: The Jules Rimet trophy was stolen (1983)

A replica of the Jules
Rimet trophy

The original FIFA (Fédération Internationale de Football Association) World Cup trophy, the Jules Rimet trophy, was stolen from the headquarters of the Brazilian Football Confederation in Rio de Janeiro and has never been recovered. The Jules Rimet trophy had been presented for the victory of the FIFA World Cup games since 1930. Jules Rimet was the third president of FIFA and also FIFA's longest serving president. He passed a vote to initiate the World Cup tournament in 1929 and the first world cup tournament was held in 1930. The trophy was officially named after him in 1946. After Brazil's third victory of the tournament in 1970, Brazil was entitled to keep the trophy permanently. After the 1970 tournament, a replacement trophy was commissioned by FIFA for the 1974 World Cup, which became the current FIFA World Cup trophy.