There are certain situations in life where you cannot get away with stealing an extremely prestigious football medal.
And this undoubtedly includes when you are standing right next to the Russian president just after an explosive World Cup final.
However, shocked fans would have sworn on the bible they spotted a Fifa official doing just this and couldn’t believe what they were seeing…
The presentation was in full swing, with Vladimir Putin in full meme mode as he managed to bag the one gigantic brolly on a apocolyptically wet day in Moscow.
Those receiving medals from both sides were soaked through to the skin, hair plastered to their faces as a comfortably dry Vlad lowered medals around their shivering necks.
On first watch, we were all preoccupied with who was receiving which medal and why. And – of course – the sight of French president Emmanuel Macron and Croatian president Kolinda Grabar looking like soggy cats next to Big Brolly Putin.
Therefore, many of us completely failed to notice the smartly dressed woman with short blonde hair whispering in Mr Putin’s ear. And then, as casual as you like, slipping a medal into her blazer pocket.
The woman can then be seen chuckling in the downpour, as if delighted her dastardly plan was all coming together. Surely she couldn’t be brazen?
The drama of the match forgotten, fans took to Twitter to try and figure out what was going on.
Some thought she was planning to eBay the treasure later, while some even speculated she was pinching the medal for President Putin himself as some sort of high end gift shop souvenir.
This may sound far fetched, but Putin was actually suspected of doing this with a $25,000 Super Bowl ring from the Patriots’ owner Robert Kraft back in 2005.
Speaking with Page Six after the incident, Kraft alleged:
I took out the ring and showed it to [Putin], and he put it on and he goes, ‘I can kill someone with this ring,’
I put my hand out and he put it in his pocket, and three KGB guys got around him and walked out.
And so – perhaps understandably – people were feeling a little paranoid about any potential mischief.
One person gasped:
Oh my goodness! Did that really happen? Damn Putin putting something away for keep.
Another raged:
How sick is that? A dignitary is stealing a WC gold medal in front of the players.
However, this was not the grand medal heist it first appeared to be, but more a case of a sensible Fifa assistant just doing her job.
The assistant had merely noticed France’s captain Hugo Lloris was the last team member to approach the stage, Metro reports.
This left them with more medals than were needed, and so she popped the spare into her pocket to keep it safe, perhaps not thinking how odd this action would look out of context.
Teams are generally allowed to give extra medals to individuals such as staff members or players who did not participate in the final 23-man squad but still contributed towards qualification.
So no medal nicking on this occasion as far as we know.
Well done France!
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Jules studied English Literature with Creative Writing at Lancaster University before earning her masters in International Relations at Leiden University in The Netherlands (Hoi!). She then trained as a journalist through News Associates in Manchester. Jules has previously worked as a mental health blogger, copywriter and freelancer for various publications.