FOOTBALL’S Luis Suarez has struck again — this time “stealing” the World Cup trophy.

But the Liverpool and Uruguay striker appears to have bitten off more than he can chew — after his crime was uncovered by youngsters from a school in Bolton.

Pupils at St Catherine’s CE Primary, in Horwich, found the stolen World Cup in a dumped backpack in their school grounds.

And there was not only the famous trophy in the bag, but other clues — including a Liverpool shirt and a World Cup ticket — leading students to point the finger at Suarez.

Football fans, however, have nothing to fear, the World Cup has not been stolen, rather the clever stunt was devised to inspire the children to write about their experiences.

Headteacher Karen Graham said: “The school was having a fire drill and we were all in the school grounds, when a backpack appeared over the school fence.

“When we opened it we were surprised to find the World Cup and the football shirt, everyone was shocked.”

Children were left wondering if the World Cup really had been stolen and thrown over the fence in a hurry as the culprit was chased.

Children started to piece together the clues, the Liverpool shirt and the closeness of Bolton Wanderers stadium to the school — and wrote it all down.

Children penned statements to the police, letters to Fifa, and accounts of what they had seen and reports on what they thought had happened.

Mrs Graham said: “We explained that the World Cup hadn’t not really been stolen, but I’m not sure all of them believed us because it was such a good copy.”

Year six pupil Skye Gee-Clough said: “At first I thought the World Cup couldn’t be a fake.

“I believed it was true. Everyone thought it was Luis Suarez who had stolen it as a bit of revenge because he’s been banned for biting someone.”

Classmate Bradley Spencer, in Year Sx, added: “There was a letter from Fifa and a Liverpool shirt so everyone thought it was Suarez.

"We believed it when Mrs Graham came into class and said someone had been arrested at Manchester Airport getting on to a plane for Uruguay.”

THE GLITTERING PRIZE THAT HAS BEEN STOLEN BEFORE

  • On 20 March 1966, four months before the 1966 World Cup in England, the original Jules Rimet trophy was stolen during a public exhibition at Westminster Central Hall
  • The trophy was found seven days later wrapped in newspaper at the bottom of a garden hedge in South London — by a dog named Pickles
  • Brazil won the World Cup for the third time in 1970, allowing them to keep the trophy
  • In 1983 the trophy was stolen again — four men were tried and convicted for the crime in Brazil
  • The trophy was never found, and was said to have been melted into gold bars
  • In 2010, during the World Cup in South Africa, thieves broke into FIFA's temporary headquarters in Johannesburg and made off with replicas