The Hand of God – Maradona’s jersey breaks all records at auction
As of 5:29 p.m
The jersey of the Hand of God is auctioned – an unknown bidder bought Maradona’s jersey from the 1986 World Cup quarterfinals for over eight million euros
Quelle: picture alliance/dpa/PA Wire/Jonathan Brady
It was the game that made Diego Maradona a legend in his lifetime. In the 1986 World Cup quarter-finals, he scored with the hand of God and scored the goal of the century. 36 years later his jersey was auctioned off. The auction broke all records.
IIn this jersey, Diego Armando Maradona († 60) scored two goals for eternity. Two goals that will forever be associated with perhaps the greatest footballer of all time. In the quarter-finals of the 1986 World Cup, the tournament’s dominant player almost single-handedly defeated England. The Argentinian’s 1-0 went down in history as the “God’s Goal” and the superstar’s second goal was later voted Goal of the Century.
36 years later, Maradona’s jersey was auctioned off at Sotheby’s. It fetched a record price of £7.14 million (€8.46 million).
Maradona (left) is faster on the ball than England goalkeeper Peter Shilton
Source: dpa/empics/Joe Pepler
“It’s very exciting, when we opened the doors, people crowded around the jersey. Indeed, this morning we received a bid for four million pounds. When you add the fees to that and convert it into dollars, that alone is a record for every item worn in a game,” said Brahm Wachter of auction house Sotheby’s at the start of the auction.
On Wednesday at 5 p.m. it was clear: The jersey of the Hand of God went under the hammer for almost 8.5 million euros. The shirt has been on display at the National Football Museum in Manchester for 20 years.
Hodge had to watch the two legendary goals up close. In the first, Maradona slapped the ball over the English goalkeeper Peter Shilton to take the lead. “It was achieved a little with Diego’s head and a little with the hand of God,” Maradona said at the time. 21 years after the goal, he admitted to the British newspaper “Sun” somewhat remorsefully: “If I could travel back in time and rewrite history, I would do it. But I can not. The gate is still a gate. We became world champions and I was the best player in the world.”
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That he was, he proved impressively with his goal to make it 2-0. With eleven touches of the ball in eleven seconds, Maradona danced out seven opponents and, after a solo, sank the ball over 68 meters to make it 2-0 in the English goal. The solo was named goal of the century. This is probably one of the reasons why Maradona’s jersey has now been auctioned off at a record price.
Maradona fools half the England side and scores the goal of the century
Source: pa/dpa/Staff
The most expensive jersey in sports history to date was that of baseball legend Babe Ruth from the New York Yankees, which brought in 5.6 million dollars in 2019.
