One of Diego Maradona’s daughters has assured that her father’s shirt which will be auctioned on April 20 is not the one with which the legendary Argentine footballer scored two goals against England at the 1986 World Cup in Mexico. An assertion denied Thursday by the auction house Sotheby’s, expertise in support. “It’s not that one. I can’t reveal who owns it, but it’s madness. It’s not this man (Steve Hodge, England player that day, editor’s note) ”, assured Dalma Maradona in the Argentine press.
The shirt on sale, she said, was worn by her father in the first half of the game against England. She claimed that Diego Maradona told her: ” How am I going to give him the shirt of my life? about the shirt he scored two second-half goals in that historic 2-1 win, including a handball and the infamous ‘goal of the century’, dribbling past half a dozen English players .
A Sotheby’s spokesperson refuted Dalma Maradona’s claims: “There was indeed another shirt worn by Maradona in the first half, but there are very clear differences between this shirt and the one that was worn during both goals. So, before putting this jersey up for auction, we used scientific research to be sure that this jersey was indeed worn by Maradona in the second half, when he scored these two goals. »
The jersey must be sold on April 20 by the auction house, which estimates it at several million dollars or euros. Sotheby’s, which will exhibit it at its premises in London during the internet sale (from April 20 to May 4), has set the starting price at 4 million pounds, or more than 5.2 million dollars. That’s slightly below the 2019 record ($5.6 million) set at auction for a jersey worn by American baseball legend Babe Ruth with the New York Yankees in the late 1920s.
Last year, a jersey worn in the 1950s by black Brooklyn Dodgers star Jackie Robinson sold for $4.2 million. In the collectibles market, football rarely competes with the king sports in the United States, such as basketball, American football or baseball.
Diago Maradona died in Buenos Aires on November 25, 2020, at age 60, of a heart attack.