What is the Putin-Kraft $25,000 Super Bowl Ring controversy about? Details revealed as Super Bowl 2025 draws near 

It's time for America to cheer for their favorite football team again, as the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles face off against each other to take home the coveted Super Bowl trophy. The Chiefs have maintained a winning streak for two straight seasons and bets are on that the likes of Travis Kelce, Patrick Mahomes, and Harrison Butker will add another Super Bowl ring to their collection.

The Super Bowl rings are an integral part of any player that wins the title, being valued at over thousands of dollars. Tom Brady tops the list of players with the most number of Super Bowl rings as the former New England Patriots player boasts a total of seven rings. A close second comes Robert Kraft, who is the proud owner of six Super Bowl rings. However, the footballer only gets to own five of them, having lent one to Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.

In 2005, Kraft visited Russia after winning his third Super Bowl and had the pleasure of meeting the leader. As he showed the rings off to the people in the room, in a surprise turn of events, Kraft recalls Putin taking the ring from him and putting it in his own pocket. The ring was valued at $25,000.

What has Robert Kraft said about Putin taking his Super Bow ring?

Speaking on the NFL Film series, Robert Kraft details the incident how Putin took his ring without any questions, and how the U.S. government asked him to bury the matter as it might become a threat to U.S. and Russia's relations.

Kraft says in the NFL Film series,

"Anyone that has a privilege of having one understands why the ring is the thing. I keep them in a drawer where I have my cufflinks. They're all in a drawer except for my third one. The original is in Russia with the president of the country. I happened to be there on a business mission with my friend, Sandy Weil. We had just given out our rings. I showed Sandy my ring and he said, 'Why don't you show it to the president?' I showed it to him and he put it on. He sort of enjoyed it so he kept it on."

However, Putin also made a remarkably shocking statement after wearing the ring, as the footballer recalls. In 2013, Kraft recalled the incident and said,

"I took out the ring and showed it to him, 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."

Kraft was understandably upset that the Russian president had got hold of his coveted ring and has never heard back from him about it again. Soon after, the player received a call from the White House and officials from the George W. Bush administration asked him not to attempt to demand the ring back in the interest of US-Russian ties. He agreed to the request and made a public statement in 2005 that he gave Putin the ring as a token of friendship.