Even though the jersey has been authenticated by Fifa and Adidas, the auction house, contacted by AFP, was unable to say whether or not it had been worn by the French playmaker during the match France won 3-0 against Brazil, especially in the first half where he scored two decisive goals.
In October 2018, a Parisian auction company, Coutau-Bégarie, had to withdraw a jersey presented like the one worn by Zidane during the final a few days from the sale, due to doubts about its authenticity.
The model sold on Sunday was sold for $ 108,800 by Julien’s Auctions, which estimated it to be between $ 80,000 and $ 120,000. It was not the most expensive piece in the collection.
For this sale, which took place this weekend in Beverly Hills and online, Julien’s Auctions estimated between $ 400,000 and $ 600,000 the value of a very old basketball star LeBron James jersey, which he wore when he had first hit the front page of Sports Illustrated magazine in 2002 when he was still in high school.
Finally, he left for $ 512,000, beating the previous record paid for a high school jersey, in this case the one worn in Terminale by former President Barack Obama who had flirted with $ 200,000.
Two Los Angeles Lakers outfits worn by Kobe Bryant, who died in a tragic helicopter crash in January 2020, were sold for $ 96,000 and $ 75,000. They dated back to his rookie season (1996-97).
Zidane’s jersey, with the words “Brazil France 12-07-98” embroidered on the chest, was on display in Zurich (Switzerland) at the Fifa Museum, which had received it on loan in 2017 from his owner, a collector, before returning it to him recently.
“During this period, the object was re-examined by the museum’s collection team, which concluded that it was indeed an authentic jersey of the final,” Fifa told AFP. But “during this examination, the Fifa museum did not find evidence that the jersey was worn during the meeting,” she also said. Several jerseys had been prepared for the meeting, three according to Julien’s Auctions.
