During the Second World War, Dr. Ottorino Barassi, an Italian and FIFA Vice-President, was so worried that the invading troops might steal the solid gold football World Cup trophy that he hid it under his bed in a shoe box (FIFA, 2006; Coleman, 2018).

Because of World War II, the World Cup would not be held for another 12 years, until 1950.

As a result, Italy were the reigning World Cup holders for a record 16 years, from 1934 to 1950.

References

FIFA (2006) Jules Rimet Cup. Available from World Wide Web: https://web.archive.org/web/20070320063520/http://fifaworldcup.yahoo.com/06/en/p/h/rimet.html. [Accessed: 20 March, 2018].

Coleman, M. (2018) Wicked World Cup. London: Scholastic Ltd.