PTI 
  
London, Jun 20: One of Britain's national treasures has made it to Germany in time for the football World Cup.
Making the journey from Waterloo station to Cologne yesterday was the orange ball used in the 1966 World Cup final at Wembley when England triumphed 4-2 over West Germany.

The ball went on display at the German Sports and Olympic Museum in Cologne ahead of England's last league encounter with Sweden. But its stint at the 2006 World Cup is short-lived and it returns to the UK tomorrow.

The ball was one of three chosen for the 1966 final but was the only one used. It had been kept for 30 years by Helmut Haller, who scored West Germany's first goal in the match.

Haller handed it over to England in 1996 and it has been at the Preston, Lancashire museum since 2002.

In fact, Preston National Football Museum director Kevin Moore and museum curator Belinda Scarlett escorted the ball from Waterloo on a Eurostar train.

"The Germans were keen to put the ball on display and we thought it was a nice gesture to take it over. The ball is one of our most popular objects and we don't like to take it out too often," Moore was quoted as saying by the 'Daily Mail'.

England fans are hoping the football would prove lucky for the squad in their campaign to bag the Jules Rimet trophy a second time.