The iconic shirt worn by Argentine legend, Diego Maradona, when he scored the famous ‘Hand of God’ goal has been sold for over £7 million at auction.
Maradona donned the bright blue strip where he captained his team as he downed England with two of his most famous goals in football history in the quarter-finals of the 1986 FIFA World Cup at the Estadio Azteca in Mexico City.
The ‘Hand of the God’ goal came after 51 minutes when he scored prodding the ball with his fist beyond England’s goalkeeper, unknown to the referee. The second goal dubbed the ‘goal of the century’ came four minutes after his first where he dribbled past five England players and then the goalkeeper all the way from his own half to score.
Argentina went all the way to the World Cup, after the quarter-final match. Maradona swapped jerseys with England midfielder, Steve Hodge who continued to own it 36 years after. He also loaned it to Manchester’s National Football Museum for two decades.
- 59-year-old Hodge decided to put up the iconic shirt for sale after he first claimed the shirt was not for sale after Maradona died in November 2020.
- He teamed up with British-founded auction house, Sotheby’s. An auction was arranged with bidding open from 20 April till May 4 with an estimated range of £4million to £6million.
- According to TheSUN, The shirt sold for a world record fee of £7.143million, exceeding the estimated price making it the most expensive match worn shirt ever. The winning bid was made at the last minute of the sale by an anonymous bidder.
- It is the highest price ever paid for a piece of sports memorabilia. The previous highest fee for a match worn shirt was held by American baseball player Babe Ruth’s New York Yankees top worn between 1928-30 which fetched £4.4million when it was sold in 2019.
“I have been the proud owner of this item for over 35 years since Diego and I swapped shirts in the tunnel after the famed match,” Hodge said upon putting the strip up for sale. “It was an absolute privilege to have played against one of the greatest and most magnificent football players of all time. It has also been a pleasure to share it with the public over the last 20 years at the National Football Museum, where it has been on display.”
“The Hand of God shirt has deep cultural meaning to the football world, the people of Argentina, and the people of England, and I’m certain that the new owner will have immense pride in owning the world’s most iconic football shirt,” he added.
“This is arguably the most coveted football shirt to ever come to auction, and so it is fitting that it now holds the auction record for any object of its kind,” said Brahm Wachter, Sotheby’s head of streetwear and modern collectables.
