The ball with which Diego Maradona scored his legendary goal at the 1986 World Cup using “the hand of God” sold at auction for 2 million pounds (3 million Canadian dollars) on Wednesday in London.
Auction house Graham Budd Auctions announced in October that it expected a sale of between 2.5 and 3 million pounds — well above its previous record sale of 420,000 pounds ($666,000) for the Olympic flame Winter Games in Helsinki in 1952.
This ball was used on June 22, 1986 in the memorable quarter-final between Argentina and England (2-1) at the FIFA World Cup in Mexico, a match played four years after the Falklands war between the two countries.
But it was Maradona’s incredible double, in the 51st and 55th minutes, that made football history. The Argentine captain had scored his first goal, validated by the referee, with his left fist. He will later admit to having scored “a little with the head and a little with the hand of God”.
For his second achievement, Maradona started from his camp, dropped five opponents and concluded in a tight angle, to score what was consecrated “goal of the century” by a poll of the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) in 2002 .
Argentina then won the tournament under the impetus of its brilliant playmaker, who on this occasion became one of the very best players in history.
“This ball is part of the history of international football. It is undoubtedly the right time to share it with the world, ”said the owner of the ball, who was none other than the referee of this famous match Ali Bennaceur, quoted by the auction house in October.
“I did not see the hand, but I had a doubt,” Mr. Bennaceur told AFP a few days after Maradona’s death in November 2020, at the age of 60.
In May, the jersey that Maradona wore during that game sold at auction for US$9.3 million, more than double the price expected by Sotheby’s.