Clube Atlético Mineiro agent Sergio Pereira Ayres masterminded the 1983 theft and enlisted two other men, Francisco Rivera and José Luiz Vieira, to assist. The three incapacitated the night watchman as they proceeded to steal the trophy and two others.
Ayres approached a safecracker named Antonio Setta to join the heist, but out of loyalty to his country, he refused. He also cited the death of his brother due to a heart attack when Brazil won the trophy.
Above all, the theft of the trophy deeply devastated Brazil, as the country was the first team to win the FIFA World Cup three times.
“The main thing to remember is that FIFA had this rule that if a country won the World Cup tournament three times, they'd receive the Jules Rimet trophy in perpetuity," Angela Cervantes, author of The Mystery of the Stolen World Cup Trophy, tells A&E Crime + Investigation. “Brazil was the first to accomplish this [when], in 1970, a man named Pelé led the Brazilian team to their third World Cup victory. This is the significance.”
Eventually, Ayres and the others were arrested. Brazilians theorized Ayers and his associates melted the trophy into gold bars, facilitated by Argentinian drug dealer Juan Carlos Hernández. Hernandez emphatically denied the accusations, and the analysis of the gold in his possession did not match the trophy.
Plus, investigators said the trophy couldn’t be melted down into gold bars because it was solid gold.
Hernandez was soon arrested alongside the other suspects. But upon their sentences, each of them fled. Ayres was sentenced to prison, but he was freed in 1998. He died in 2003 from a heart attack.
Hernandez would later be indicted for unrelated charges of drug trafficking in 1998. He was freed in 2005.
Where Is the Jules Rimet Trophy Now?
To this day, the trophy has never been recovered despite the 5 million cruzeiros offered by Rio de Janeiro State Bank for its safe return. Additionally, the motive as to why the trophy was stolen in the first place remains unconfirmed.
“The motive could have been pure greed,” she says. “I know many people believe it was melted down for its gold and silver, but I tend to believe that the Jules Rimet is still out there perched on someone's bookshelf as a sort of vanity piece.”
As a result, Brazil still feels robbed of the symbol of their nation’s achievements.
“While I was writing my mystery novel, I knew it was a delicious juicy part of soccer past, but I hadn't initially considered the shame the Brazilian people felt when the trophy was stolen under their care,” she says. “Winning the trophy in perpetuity was an extraordinary source of national pride. For my novel, I asked my Brazilian friends about the stolen Jules Rimet, and they expressed real embarrassment, even though it happened decades ago.”
Despite the incident, Brazil’s national soccer team went on to win more World Cups and continued to set the standard for dominance on the global stage, playing the global game.
“Besides pure embarrassment, I'm not sure the heist has impacted the Brazilian soccer world in any real way because Brazil went on to win the World Cup in 1994 and 2002,” Cervantes says. “They may have lost the Jules Rimet trophy, but they haven't lost their reputation as one of the greatest and most passionate soccer nations.”
A replica trophy was placed in the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) headquarters in 1984, and today, the winning team takes home the golden FIFA World Cup Trophy.
