Published on : 04/05/2022 – 18:12
The auction house Sotheby’s has set a record by selling a Diego Maradona jersey for nearly 9 million euros, an unprecedented amount for a sports collector’s item.
The shirt that Argentine soccer legend Diego Maradona wore when he nailed England at the 1986 World Cup with a handball has gone for almost 9 million euros, breaking all records for a piece collectible sports car, announced the auction house.
The previous record for collectible sportswear was held by a jersey worn by American baseball legend Babe Ruth in the late 1920s, which sold in 2019 for the equivalent of 5.3 million euros. The price even exceeds the manuscript of the 1892 Olympic manifesto, sold for 8.3 million euros in December 2019, then setting an absolute record.
The sale had been taking place online since April 20. Until Wednesday, only one offer had been registered, at around $5 million. But the sale was animated in the very last minutes, with several offers responding, until reaching the sum of 9.28 million dollars, including costs. The identity of the buyer(s) was not immediately disclosed by Sotheby’s.
Memorable quarter-final
In 1986, Diego Maradona exchanged his shirt at the end of the match with England midfielder Steve Hodge, who owned it for more than thirty-five years and loaned it to the Manchester Museum. The two players recounted the episode in one of their respective books.
The player’s daughter had previously cast doubt on the sale by claiming the shirt had been worn by her father only in the first half – in which no goals were scored. Information denied by Sotheby’s.
This quarter-final in Mexico went down in history and helped write the contrasting legend of the “pibe de oro”. At the 51e minute, just after a ball diverted in its surface by Steve Hodge, the Argentine captain had scored with his hand – “the hand of God”, had said the player – but the goal had been validated by the referee.
Only four minutes later, the Argentine star had scored an anthology goal, voted “goal of the century” in a FIFA vote, starting from his camp and eliminating four English players then goalkeeper Peter Shilton to score . Argentina won the 1986 World Cup.
With AFP and Reuters
>> To (re)read on France24.com: Argentina – England 1986: Diego Maradona’s masterpiece