The shirt worn by Diego Maradona when he scored twice – including the “hand of God” goal – to knock England out of the 1986 World Cup has sold or a record-breaking £7.1m at auction.
Maradona wore Argentina’s No. 10 shirt in the 1986 World Cup quarter-final against England in Mexico. Six minutes into the second half he put his team ahead by punching the ball into the net for what became known as the “Hand of God” goal.
Four minutes later, Maradona dribbled past several England players from his own half to score again, a strike that was voted goal of the century in a 2002 poll of 340,000 fans across 150 countries.
The late football icon swapped shirts with England midfielder Steve Hodge after full time and he has been in possession of the treasured item for the last 35 years.
The shirt has spent the last 20 years on loan at the National Football Museum in Manchester, and went under the hammer at Sotheby’s on Wednesday afternoon, fetching £7,142,500, a new auction record for an item of sports memorabilia.
