Maradona’s goal by hand against England in the 1986 World Cup was the most controversial
The shirt that Argentine football legend Diego Armando Maradona wore when he scored a goal with his hand in the 1986 World Cup has been sold for 7.1 million pounds.
Maradona scored the two goals of the match, one of which is known as the “Hand of God”, while the second is known as the “Goal of the Century”, against England in the 1986 World Cup matches.
Thus, Maradona’s shirt has set a new record in the world of sports, as it is the most expensive piece of sports memorabilia ever.
Former England midfielder Steve Hodge offered Maradona’s shirt, which he replaced with him after the match that witnessed the “Hand of God” goal, for sale at an auction 36 years after the quarter-final meeting between Argentina and England in the World Cup finals in Mexico 1986.
After Maradona’s death in November 2020, Hodge announced that the shirt was not for sale.
“A lot of people are knocking on my door incessantly,” he said in December of the same year, stressing that reports that he intended to sell the shirt were not true.
He added, at the time: “I find it disrespectful and a big mistake to sell it. It (the shirt) is not for sale, and I’m not trying to sell it.”
Sotheby’s auctioned the shirt for sale at a value that exceeded its estimated price, between 4 and 6 million pounds.
“I think it’s the soccer jersey with the highest demand in auction history,” said Brahm Waucher, Head of Streetwear and Modern Collectibles at Sotheby’s.
The highest price paid was for a baseball legend Babe Ruth’s jersey while playing for the New York Yankees, which was sold in 2019 for 4.4 million pounds ($5.6 million).
picture released, Media PA
Maradona’s family claimed that the shirt sold was not the shirt the soccer legend wore during the controversial goal.
In the same year, the original Olympic record, written in 1892, was sold for 7 million pounds ($8.8 million) to be the most expensive sports commemorative item in the world until the sale of Maradona’s shirt.
Hodge, the former midfielder in Nottingham Forest, Aston Villa, Leeds and Tottenham, who participated in two World Cups with the England national team and won 24 international matches, obtained the blue Argentina shirt that the players wear in the return match, after he replaced it with his shirt with football legend Maradona in The tunnel leading to the dressing rooms at the Azteca Stadium in Mexico after the quarter-finals of the 1986 World Cup, won by Argentina.
The shirt has been causing some turmoil since Sotheby’s auctioned it last April, with the Maradona family claiming it was not the shirt the soccer legend was wearing when he scored his infamous “Hand of God” goal.
For 36 years, the shirt has been put on public display as the shirt worn by the late Brazilian star while scoring his famous goal, and most recently it was displayed in the British National Football Museum in Manchester.
In the description of the shirt while being offered for sale online, Sotheby’s says that this shirt matches the photos taken of Maradona wearing it while scoring Argentina’s two goals in that match.
Maradona scored the two goals in the match against England, turning into two of the most famous goals in the football career of the football star, who is considered one of the greatest football players in the history of the game.
Maradona punched the ball with his hand to enter the net of English goalkeeper Peter Shilton and turn into a controversial goal in the second half of the match, and minutes later, the late star scored the second goal against the England team, which the results of an opinion poll conducted by the International Football Association (FIFA) indicated that he The goal of the century.
Maradona went on to inspire his country to win the World Cup in that competition after defeating West Germany 3-2 in the final of the tournament.