Maradona’s ‘Hand of God’ ball sells for £2.5 m
The football with which Diego Maradona scored his famous “Hand of God” goal at the 1986 World Cup has sold at auction for £2.5 million.
Maradona famously punched the ball past goalkeeper Peter Shilton in Argentina’s 2‑1 quartet‑final win over England. After the game he famously described the move as “a little with the head of Maradona and a little with the hand of God”.
In the same match he later scored the “Goal of the Century”, dribbling past five England outfield players before slotting the ball past Shilton.
Although the ball captured 3.3 million USD (£2.5 million) at Heritage Auctions in the United States on Saturday, it had been expected to fetch closer to 10 million USD (£7.3 million).
Andy Provenzale, a specialist auctioneer at Heritage, called the ball “arguably the most significant soccer item that exists.”
The ball was removed from the referee’s kit by Tunisian Ali Bin Nasser, who stored it for more than three decades. In 2023 he confirmed its authenticity and that it was the sole ball used in the match, a claim verified by independent authentication.
Bin Nasser sold the ball in 2022 for 2.37 million USD (£1.74 million). The new owner again put it up for auction in 2023, but bids did not reach the minimum value.
The shirt Maradona wore in the same match sold for 7.1 million pounds in 2022.
