The shirt worn by Diego Maradona when he scored his infamous “Hand of God” goal against England at the 1986 World Cup is expected to sell for at least £4 million ($5.23 million) in an online auction that opens April 20, auctioneer Sotheby’s said on Wednesday.
Brahm Wachter, Sotheby’s head of streetwear and modern collectibles, said the shirt is “on a small list of the most important sports memorabilia items in the world.”
“I’ll never get to handle anything this good again,” Wachter said. “The moment is iconic in the history of sports.”
Maradona scored two goals during the quarter-final game in Mexico City on June 22, 1986, just four years after Britain and Argentina had fought a war over the Falkland Islands. The Argentine great’s first goal was ruled a header, but the ball had bounced off Maradona’s fist, out of sight of the referee.
Maradona said afterward that it had been scored “a little with the head of Maradona, and a little with the hand of God.” Maradona’s second goal saw him dribble the ball past almost the entire English team before beating goalkeeper Peter Shilton. In 2002, it was voted “goal of the century” in a Fifa poll.
The first “was really cunning and did involve an element of luck,” he said. “But then he scored a second goal, which was one of the most unbelievable — almost angelic — goals ever.”
Argentina won the match 2-1 and went on to win the World Cup. Maradona, considered by many to be the greatest player of all time, struggled with cocaine abuse and other excesses and died in November 2020 at the age of 60.
After the game Maradona swapped shirts with England’s Steve Hodge, who never sold it, until now. For the past 20 years, it has been on loan to England’s National Football Museum in Manchester.
The blue shirt with stripes of lighter blue was a one-off, hastily assembled because the tops Argentina’s team planned to wear were judged too heavy for the Mexico City heat. The Argentinian Football Association patches were sewn on, and sparkly numbers, including Maradona’s 10, were ironed onto the back shortly before the match.
Hodge said he had been a “proud owner” of a shirt that “has deep cultural meaning to the football world, the people of Argentina, and the people of England.” According to Wachter, Hodge had decided “that the time is just right” to sell.