The shirt worn by Diego Maradona when he scored his two goals against England at the 1986 World Cup, including the famous “hand of God” goal, is going up for auction this month, Sothebys announced on Wednesday, expecting to fetch more than five million dollars.
Blue and stamped with the number 10, the shirt has had only one owner in these 35 years: the English midfielder Steve Hodge, who changed his with the “Golden Boy” at the end of the match, which Argentina won 2-1 and has remained one of the most controversial in the history of the World Cup.
The quarter-final match had a special meaning for Argentina, four years after losing the Falklands war against the United Kingdom.
But above all, he was inscribed in the annals of football for Maradona’s two goals, one scandalous and the other sublime, on the field of the Azteca stadium in Mexico City.
The first occurred shortly after half-time when Hodge, on the edge of the England box, intercepted a pass and parried the ball into his own goal.
Maradona, running towards the goal, rose along with England goalkeeper Peter Shilton and pushed the ball into the net.
Furious, the English complained to the referees who, believing that Maradona had headed the ball, confirmed the goal.
The popular ‘Pelusa’ fueled the controversy after the game by acknowledging that the goal “was with the head of Maradona and the hand of God”.
Four minutes later Maradona did it again but this time he left no room for doubt.
He received the ball and turned around, beginning a journey in which he would leave five English defenders in his wake before slipping past Shilton and scoring a goal that was voted “goal of the century” in a poll by the FIFA in 2002.
Argentina won the final to lift the World Cup for the second time in eight years and Maradona, already a superstar, became a cult object among his compatriots.
After his death in 2020, Argentina ordered three days of mourning.
Sotheby’s said in a statement to AFP that the shirt will be on display in London during the online auction scheduled for April 20-May 4.
The auction will start at 4 million pounds ($5.2 million), short of the record for game-worn jerseys, which was set in 2019 by one worn by baseball legend Babe Ruth when he was playing for the New York Yankees.
