London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Thursday, Sep 18, 2025

Maradona's 'Hand of God' shirt sells for £7.1m

Maradona's 'Hand of God' shirt sells for £7.1m

The shirt Diego Maradona wore when he scored the 'Hand of God' goal and much vaunted 'goal of the century' for Argentina against England at the 1986 World Cup has sold for a record £7.1m.

Diego Maradona inspired Argentina to World Cup glory in 1986

It is the highest price ever paid for a piece of sports memorabilia.

Former England midfielder Steve Hodge put it up for auction 36 years after he swapped it with Maradona following the famous quarter-final in Mexico.

After Maradona died in November 2020, Hodge said the shirt was not for sale.

In December that year Hodge said he had "people knocking on my door non-stop" and that reports he was looking to sell the shirt were false.

"I find it disrespectful and totally wrong," he added at the time. "It's not for sale. I am not trying to sell it."

Auction house Sotheby sold the shirt for more than its estimated price, which was between £4m and £6m.

"This is arguably the most coveted football shirt to ever come to auction, and so it is fitting that it now holds the auction record for any object of its kind," said Brahm Wachter, Sotheby's head of streetwear and modern collectables.

The previous highest fee paid for a shirt worn during a sports match was held by New York Yankees legend Babe Ruth's baseball jersey, which sold for $5.6m (£4.4m) in 2019.

In the same year the original Olympic manifesto, penned in 1892, sold for $8.8m (about £7m) to become the most expensive piece of sports memorabilia.

Ex-Nottingham Forest, Aston Villa, Leeds and Tottenham midfielder Hodge, 59, who appeared in two World Cups for England and won 24 caps, had owned the iconic blue Argentina away shirt since swapping it with Maradona in the tunnel at the Azteca Stadium in Mexico City after the game, which Argentina won 2-1.

There has been some confusion about the shirt since Sotheby's in London put it up for auction in April, with Maradona's family claiming

it was not the shirt he had on when he scored the infamous 'Hand of God' goal.

During the past 36 years, the shirt, manufactured by Le Coq Sportif, has been publicly displayed as the one worn by the Argentine great. It was most recently housed at the National Football Museum in Manchester.

Sotheby said in its listing online that the shirt was matched to images of Maradona wearing it for both goals.

The two he scored against England are among the most famous goals by Maradona, who is widely regarded as one of football's greatest-ever players.

His punching of the ball beyond goalkeeper Peter Shilton to score the controversial opening goal in the second half came minutes before he netted what was years later voted the goal of the century in a poll by football's world governing body Fifa.

Maradona went on to inspire his country to win the trophy, beating West Germany 3-2 in the final.

Diego Maradona's 1986 World Cup 'Hand of God' shirt was on display at Sotheby's in London, before it is offered at auction

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
US Tech Giants Pledge Billions to UK AI Infrastructure Following Starmer's Call
Saudi Arabia cracks down on music ‘lounges’ after conservative backlash
DeepMind and OpenAI Achieve Gold at ‘Coding Olympics’ in AI Milestone
SEC Allows Public Companies to Block Investors from Class-Action Lawsuits
Saudi Arabia Signs ‘Strategic Mutual Defence’ Pact with Pakistan, Marking First Arab State to Gain Indirect Access to Nuclear Strike Capabilities in the Region
Federal Reserve Cuts Rates by Quarter Point and Signals More to Come
Effective and Impressive Generation Z Protest: Images from the Riots in Nepal
European manufacturers against ban on polluting cars: "The industry may collapse"
Sam Altman sells the 'Wedding Estate' in Hawaii for 49 million dollars
Trump: Cancel quarterly company reports and settle for reporting once every six months
Turkish car manufacturer Togg Enters German Market with 5-Star Electric Sedan and SUV to Challenge European EV Brands
US Launches New Pilot Program to Accelerate eVTOL Air Taxi Deployment
Christian Brueckner Released from German Prison after Serving Unrelated Sentence
World’s Longest Direct Flight China Eastern to Launch 29-Hour Shanghai–Buenos Aires Direct Flight via Auckland in December
New OpenAI Study Finds Majority of ChatGPT Use Is Personal, Not Professional
Hong Kong Industry Group Calls for HK$20 Billion Support Fund to Ease Property Market Stress
Joe Biden’s Post-Presidency Speaking Fees Face Weak Demand amid Corporate Reluctance
Charlie Kirk's murder will break the left's hateful cancel tactics
Kash Patel erupts at ‘buffoon’ Sen. Adam Schiff over Russiagate: ‘You are the biggest fraud’
Homeland Security says Emmy speech ‘fanning the flames of hatred’ after Einbinder’s ‘F— ICE’ remark
Charlie Kirk’s Alleged Assassin Tyler Robinson Faces Death Penalty as Charges Formally Announced
Actor, director, environmentalist Robert Redford dies at 89
The conservative right spreads westward: a huge achievement for 'Alternative for Germany' in local elections
JD Vance Says There Is “No Unity” with Those Who Celebrate Charlie Kirk’s Killing, and he is right!
Trump sues the 'New York Times' for an astronomical sum of 15 billion dollars
Florida Hospital Welcomes Its Largest-Ever Baby: Annan, Nearly Fourteen Pounds at Birth
U.S. and Britain Poised to Finalize Over $10 Billion in High-Tech, Nuclear and Defense Deals During Trump State Visit
China Finds Nvidia Violated Antitrust Laws in Mellanox Deal, Deepens Trade Tensions with US
US Air Force Begins Modifications on Qatar-Donated Jet Amid Plans to Use It as Air Force One
Pope Leo Warns of Societal Crisis Over Mega-CEO Pay, Citing Tesla’s Proposed Trillion-Dollar Package
Poland Green-Lights NATO Deployment in Response to Major Russian Drone Incursion
Elon Musk Retakes Lead as World’s Richest After Brief Ellison Surge
U.S. and China Agree on Framework to Shift TikTok to American Ownership
London Daily Podcast: London Massive Pro Democracy Rally, Musk Support, UK Economic Data and Premier League Results Mark Eventful Weekend
This Week in AI: Meta’s Superintelligence Push, xAI’s Ten Billion-Dollar Raise, Genesis AI’s Robotics Ambitions, Microsoft Restructuring, Amazon’s Million-Robot Milestone, and Google’s AlphaGenome Update
Le Pen Tightens the Pressure on Macron as France Edges Toward Political Breakdown
Musk calls for new UK government at huge pro-democracy rally in London, but Britons have been brainwashed to obey instead of fighting for their human rights
Elon Musk responds to post calling for the murder of Erika Kirk, widow of Charlie Kirk: 'Either we fight back or they will kill us'
Czech Republic signs €1.34 billion contract for Leopard 2A8 main battle tanks with delivery from 2028
USA: Office Depot Employees Refused to Print Poster in Memory of Charlie Kirk – and Were Fired
Proposed U.S. Bill Would Allow Civil Suits Against Judges Who Release Repeat Violent Offenders
Penske Media Sues Google Over “AI Overviews,” Claiming It Uses Journalism Without Consent and Destroys Traffic
Indian Student Engineers Propose “Project REBIRTH” to Protect Aircraft from Crashes Using AI, Airbags and Smart Materials
French Debt Downgrade Piles Pressure on Macron’s New Prime Minister
US and UK Near Tech, Nuclear and Whisky Deals Ahead of Trump Trip
One in Three Europeans Now Uses TikTok, According to the Chinese Tech Giant
Could AI Nursing Robots Help Healthcare Staffing Shortages?
NATO Deploys ‘Eastern Sentry’ After Russian Drones Violate Polish Airspace
Anesthesiologist Left Operation Mid-Surgery to Have Sex with Nurse
Tens of Thousands of Young Chinese Get Up Every Morning and Go to Work Where They Do Nothing
×