What the Larry O’Brien trophy is to basketball, what the Stanley Cup means to hockey players, the Jules Rimet Trophy represents for international soccer. The highest prize in the game, the one that all teams covet and compete for – except they only get one crack at it every four years. The figure is appropriately luxurious – all solid 18-carat gold, with a malachite base, which has encouraged some thieves to acquire it the old fashioned way. The trophy was stolen first in 1966, while on exhibition – Brazil, who held it at the time called it an outrage that such an act would take place in their country, where even thieves love soccer. Seventeen years later, it happened again.

On this day, December 19, in 1983, the Jules Rimet Trophy, on permanent display in a bulletproof glass case in Brazil, was taken by a group of robbers who overpowered the guards and sawed through the display stand.

Two other team trophies nearby were taken, while a replica nearby was untouched. The police spoke openly about the robbery being an inside job. An intense search began, coupled with national media outcry of the shame of the crime, but despite the best efforts of investigators, the trophy was never found.