NEW YORK: The jersey that Argentina soccer legend Diego Maradona wore whilst scoring two times towards England within the 1986 Global Cup, together with the notorious “hand of God” target, was once auctioned for $9.3 million, a document for any merchandise of sports activities memorabilia, Sotheby’s stated Wednesday. Seven bidders vied for the garment in an public sale that started April 20 and ended Wednesday morning, Sotheby’s stated, with out liberating the identify of the patron.

“This historical blouse is a tangible reminder of crucial second now not simplest within the historical past of sports activities, however within the historical past of the 20 th century,” Sotheby’s head of streetwear and fashionable collectibles Brahm Wachter stated in a remark after the sale. “That is arguably probably the most coveted soccer blouse to ever come to public sale, and so it’s becoming that it now holds the public sale document for any object of its type,” he stated. The jersey have been owned through opposing midfielder Steve Hodge, who swapped his jersey with Maradona after England misplaced 2-1.

Hodge, whose autobiography is titled “The person with Maradona’s blouse,” has for the previous twenty years loaned the jersey to be on public show on the Nationwide Soccer Museum in Manchester. The quarter-final showdown turned into etched in soccer lore for Maradona’s two goals-one infamous and one sublime-in Mexico Town’s seething Aztec Stadium. The primary got here in a while after half-time when Hodge, at the fringe of the England penalty space, intercepted a move and flicked the ball again in opposition to target.

Maradona, operating into the field, rose with England’s goalkeeper Peter Shilton and punched the ball into the web. He later stated the target have been scored “a little bit with the pinnacle of Maradona, a little bit with the hand of God.” Quickly after, Maradona left 5 English defenders in his wake sooner than gliding previous Shilton and slotting house for a strike that was once voted “Purpose of the Century” in a 2002 FIFA ballot. Argentina went directly to win the overall and Maradona, who died from a center assault in 2020, turned into worshipped in his house nation.

Jersey blend up?
Maradona’s daughter forged doubt at the sale previous this month when she claimed that the blouse post for public sale have been the only her father wore within the goal-less first 1/2, now not the second one when he scored his two aims. “This former participant thinks he has my dad’s second-half jersey, however it’s a mix-up. He has the only from the primary 1/2,” his daughter Dalma stated.

Sotheby’s insisted they’d the fitting blouse, despite the fact that. A Sotheby’s spokeswoman advised AFP: “There was once certainly a unique blouse worn through Maradona within the first 1/2, however there are transparent variations between that and what was once worn all over the aims. “And so, previous to striking this blouse on the market, we did intensive diligence and clinical analysis at the merchandise to ensure it was once the blouse worn through Maradona in the second one 1/2 for the 2 aims.”
The photomatching procedure had concerned matching the blouse “to each aims inspecting distinctive main points on more than a few parts of the object, together with the patch, stripes, and numbering.” It added that Maradona himself had stated the provenance of the blouse himself, in his e book “Touched through God,” and he recollects giving it to Hodge on the finish of the fit. The former document for a game-worn blouse from any recreation was once $5.6 million, set in 2019 for a jersey Babe Ruth wore whilst at the New York Yankees.

Till now the public sale document for any sports activities memorabilia was once the unique autograph manuscript of the Olympic Manifesto from 1892, which offered at Sotheby’s for $8.8 million in December 2019. One dropping bid staff, collector Marcelo Ordas and the Argentine Soccer Affiliation, expressed sadness at lacking out. “It’s an enormous disgrace that we didn’t set up (to safe) the emblematic jersey of our nationwide staff,” stated AFA president Claudio Tapia.- AFP