The jersey Argentina’s legendary footballer Diego Maradona wore while scoring two times against England in the 1986 World Cup, including the scandalous “hand of God” objective, was auctioned for $9.3 million (R144 000 000), a record for anything in sports memorabilia, Sotheby’s said on Wednesday.
Seven bidders competed for the article of clothing in an auction that started on 20 April and finished Wednesday morning, Sotheby’s said, without delivering the purchaser’s name.
“This noteworthy shirt is a substantial indication of a significant second throughout the entire existence of sports, however throughout the entire existence of the twentieth 100 years,” Sotheby’s head of streetwear and present-day collectables Brahm Wachter said in an explanation after the deal.
“This is ostensibly the most sought after football shirt to at any point come to auction, thus it is fitting that it presently holds the auction record for any object of its sort,” he said.
The jersey had been possessed by contradicting midfielder Steve Hodge, who traded his jersey with Maradona after England lost 2-1.
Hodge, whose life account is named The Man with Maradona’s Shirt, has for the beyond 20 years, advanced the jersey to be out there for anyone to see at the National Football Museum in Manchester.
The quarter-last confrontation became carved in football legend for Maradona’s two infamous and eminent objectives in Mexico City’s fuming Aztec Stadium.
The first came soon after half-time when Hodge blocked a pass on the edge of the England punishment region and flicked the ball back towards the objective.
Running into the crate, Maradona rose with England’s goalkeeper Peter Shilton and punched the ball into the net. He later said the objective had been scored “a little with the head of Maradona, a little with the hand of God.”
Before long, Maradona left five English protectors afterwards before coasting past Shilton and opening the home for a strike that was cast a ballot “Objective of the Century” in a 2002 FIFA survey.
Argentina proceeded to win the last, and Maradona, who passed on from a coronary failure in 2020, became venerated in his nation of origin.
Jersey stir up?
Maradona’s little girl cast uncertainty on the deal recently when she guaranteed that the shirt set available to be purchased had been the one her dad wore in the objective less first half, not the subsequent one when he scored his two objectives.
“This previous player thinks he has my father’s final part jersey, yet it’s a misunderstanding. He has the one from the main around 50% of,” his girl Dalma said.
However, Sotheby’s demanded they had the fitting shirt.
A Sotheby’s representative told AFP: “Maradona wore an alternate shirt in the top half; however, there are clear contrasts between that and what was worn during the objectives.
“Thus, preceding putting this shirt available to be purchased, we did broad ingenuity and logical exploration on the thing to ensure it was the shirt worn by Maradona in the final part for the two objectives.”
The photo-matching system had involved matching the shirt “to the two objectives analyzing special subtleties on different components of the thing, including the fix, stripes, and numbering.”
It added that Maradona himself had recognized the provenance of the shirt himself in his book Touched by God, and he gave it to Hodge toward the finish of the match.
The record for a game-worn shirt from any game was $5.6 million, set in 2019 for a jersey Babe Ruth wore while on the New York Yankees.
As of recently, the auction record for any games memorabilia was the first signature authentic copy of the Olympic Manifesto from 1892, which sold at Sotheby’s for $8.8 million in December 2019.
