https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/ar...sells-record-breaking-7-1MILLION-auction.html
Maradona's 'Hand of God' World Cup 1986 shirt sells to 'Middle Eastern buyer linked to Manchester City' for £7.1MILLION: Argentina to BEG new owner to let them display it in Buenos Aries after failing in bid to buy it back
- Diego Maradona's 1986 World Cup match-shirt has sold for £7.1million today
- Garment had been put on sale by Sotheby's for an online auction until May 4
- Argentinian delegation reportedly arrived in London today for a last-minute bid
- The delegation will ask the winning bidder to let them display the shirt back in Argentina in October to mark what would have been Maradona's 62nd birthday
- The buyer remained anonymous but a respected Argentine newspaper speculated they were Middle Eastern and linked to Manchester City.
Argentina will beg the buyers of Diego Maradona's 'Hand of God' shirt to let them borrow it for the soccer legend's birthday after it was bought for a record-breaking £7.1 million.
The head of a delegation from the late football star's home nation said he will ask the winning bidders to let the famous top be exhibited in the south American country on October 30 when Maradona would have been 62.
Private collector Marcelo Ordas broke down in tears today after losing out on the chance to reclaim the shirt Diego wore when he scored the two goals which beat England in the 1986 World Cup in Mexico, the game in which the maestro produced the infamous 'Hand of God' goal.
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, which has spent the last 20 years on loan at the National Football Museum in Manchester, went under the hammer at Sotheby's on Wednesday afternoon for £7,142,500 - marking a new auction record for any item of sports memorabilia.
The buyer remained anonymous, but there are reports the shirt's new owners are from the Middle East and are linked to Manchester City.
Mr Ordas, the owner of one of the largest football shirt collections in the world whose offer is thought to have been around £5.5 million, said after travelling to London with the support of Argentine Football Association president Claudio Tapia: 'We would like to have a chat with the winning bidders, to try in every way possible to take the shirt to Argentina in October and exhibit it on Diego's birthday.
'We're waiting here to try to organise a meeting.'
Respected Argentinian daily La Nacion reported today the new owners were from the Middle East, claiming: 'It's believed to have ended up in the hands of a group from Abu Dhabi, close to the people who pull the strings at Manchester City.'
The previous record for any sports memorabilia was the original autograph manuscript of the Olympic Manifesto from 1892, which sold at Sotheby's for $8.8 million in December 2019.
The previous record for a game worn shirt was held by Babe Ruth's Yankees road Jersey, sold for $5.64 million in 2019.
The auction house described the famous blue number 10 jersey on its website as in 'good overall condition consistent with heavy use, perspiration and athletic activity' with 'slight de-threading on hemming on the front bottom of shirt, and minor spots throughout'.
Today, an Argentinian delegation, consisting of Maradona's family, a private memorabilia firm and the country's football association, are understood to have arrived in London in a bid to buy the shirt themselves. It is not yet known who won the prized sports memorabilia.
One member told the Sun: 'He is selling something that belongs to Maradona and the AFA without authorisation.
'It should be in Argentina in order all Argentines can enjoy it, and not for a millionaire to display it in his closet.'
Maradona's status as a superstar was cemented in that quarter-final in 1986.
Argentina won the game 2-1, with their diminutive talisman deceiving the referee by using his hand to score what appeared to the official to be a header.
Hodge was involved in the incident, passing the ball back to the goalkeeper before Maradona used his cunning to leap and reach the ball with his hand.
Afterwards the player famously said it was scored 'a little with the head of Maradona, and a little with the hand of God'.
His other strike in the game was voted 'Goal of the Century' in a FIFA poll and saw him dribble around almost the entire England team before slotting the ball past Peter Shilton.
It was the most famous game in the career of a footballing genius, who was 25 at the time and went on to help his side win the tournament in Mexico.
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