Maradona's 'Hand of God' Ball Sells for £2.5 Million, Missing £7.3 Million Estimate
Updated
Updated · bbc.co.uk · Aug 24
Maradona's 'Hand of God' Ball Sells for £2.5 Million, Missing £7.3 Million Estimate
3 articles · Updated · bbc.co.uk · Aug 24
Summary
$3.3 million — about £2.5 million — bought the ball used for Diego Maradona's 1986 'Hand of God' goal at a Heritage Auctions sale in the United States.
The price fell well short of the roughly $10 million (£7.3 million) expected, even though auctioneer Mike Provenzale had called it a unique and arguably unmatched soccer collectible.
Ali Bin Nasser, the referee in Argentina's 2-1 World Cup quarter-final win over England, kept the Adidas Azteca ball for more than three decades and signed a 2023 letter confirming it was the only ball used.
The ball had already sold for $2.37 million (£1.74 million) in 2022, then failed to sell in a 2023 auction when bidding did not reach the reserve; Maradona's shirt from the same match fetched £7.1 million in 2022.