Source : ABC NEWS
One of Germany’s most storied sports trophies was believed to have been stolen and melted down, but has now turned up in the champion team’s own basement.
The four-month saga took an unusual turn when German champion men’s handball team Füchse Berlin reported the large silver dish awarded to the Bundesliga winners, which went missing from its offices in November, had been found stashed in a basement storage area.
The club believes that thieves stole the trophy from its offices then hid it to retrieve later, but decided against doing so because of media attention around the theft.
“The risk of being caught seemed too high even for the master thieves,” the club said in a statement.
Handball is one of the most popular sports in Germany and northern Europe (Reuters: Marko Djurica)
The trophy, valued at around 12,000 euros ($19,900) as of 2014, was engraved with the names of champion teams going back decades.
After authorities found a silver bar during a series of raids on addresses in January, a spokesman for the prosecutor’s office told the Sport Bild newspaper the suspicion was the trophy had been melted down.
The league has cancelled the order it made for a replacement, German news agency dpa reported.
Handball is one of the most popular sports in Germany and northern Europe, and the men’s league is widely shown on TV.
Füchse Berlin will not get to hold the trophy again for a while longer, though, as the club says it has been taken by the police as evidence.
AP
