Considered sold ! The jersey that Argentine football legend Diego Maradona wore when he crucified England at the 1986 World Cup found a buyer for 9.28 million dollars (8.8 million euros) on Wednesday May 4. The identity of the buyer(s) was not immediately disclosed by Sotheby’s.
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 $5.6 million. The price even exceeds the manuscript of the 1892 Olympic manifesto, which sold for $8.8 million in December 2019.
The sale had been taking place on the internet since April 20. Until Wednesday, only one offer had been registered, at around $5 million. But the sale came alive in the very last minutes, with several offers.
These auctions, however, had a controversial taste. Part of the family of Diego Maradona, who died on November 25, 2020 at the age of 60, claimed, despite repeated assurances from Sotheby’s, that the shirt sold was not the one worn by the Argentine captain when he scored the two goals legendary, in the second half of the match against England, but that of the first half.
In 1986, Maradona swapped his shirt at the end of the match with England midfielder Steve Hodge, who owned it for over 35 years and lent it to the Manchester Museum. Both players have recounted the episode in books.
This quarter-final in Mexico, heavy with symbols four years after the Falklands war between the two countries, went down in history and helped write the contrasting legend of Maradona. In the 51st minute, just after a ball diverted in his area by Steve Hodge, the Argentine captain had scored thanks to “the hand of God”, in the words of the player, but the goal had been validated by the referee.
Four minutes later, El Pibe de oro 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 went on to win the World Cup.