Kees has all but one World Cup pins, who will complete his collection?

Forty pins from 21 countries adorn Kees’ living room these weeks. He took them out of the box and pinned them on a list especially for the World Cup. His collecting frenzy started in 1988, when he went to a Chelsea game against Manchester United in London. “I bought my first pin there. After that I started doing that for every football club and for the world championships. I take a pin with me in every country I go to.”

From 1970 to the present, he has one or more pins from every World Cup. Except for the one from 1966. “That was the World Cup in England. A blue pin with a football and the year 1966 incorporated in it,” says Kees. “But that is almost impossible to get hold of,” he says. At that time not many pins were made.

“I’ve tried it several times, but those pins are with collectors. The copy of the Russian World Cup from four years ago was also very difficult to come by. Fortunately, I eventually managed to tap it on the head.”

What if he finally has that coveted pin? “Then I’m a merchant,” he laughs. “I just want that collection complete.” Where a pin normally costs four euros, Kees will have to pay quite a bit for that pin. “I think I have to pay thirty, forty euros for that. But it’s worth it to me.”

Kees is most proud of the pins from the 1974 and 1978 World Cups, when the Netherlands reached the final. “I like those the most, because of the memory and the emblem. They were also difficult to come by, but after I placed an advertisement in the newspaper, a woman whose husband had just died called. I got the pins from her taken over.”

Are you or do you know the one who can help Kees with the World Cup pin from 1966? Then email to [email protected]