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The ball that Diego Maradona used to score Argentina’s infamous “Hand of God” goal against England in the 1986 World Cup sold at auction for £2 million ($2.4 million) on Wednesday.
The white Adidas “Azteca” ball, owned by Tunisian match referee Ali Bin Nasser, was expected to fetch up to £3 million ($3.6 million) when it went under the hammer at Graham Budd Auctions in the United Kingdom.
It comes six months after the jersey Maradona wore in the historic quarter-final in Mexico City fetched nearly $9.3 million at auction, more than double the value predicted by Sotheby’s.
The auctioned ball, inspired by Aztec architecture and murals, was used for the entire 90-minute game between Argentina and England in 1986, years before the multi-ball system was introduced in football.
Because of political tensions following the Falkland War in 1982, the clash became defined by two contrasting goals scored by the late Maradona, who died of heart failure in November 2020 at the age of 60.
Maradona ran into the box, rose with England goalkeeper Peter Shilton, and punched the ball into the net for the first goal.
He later stated that the goal was scored “a little with Maradona’s head, a little with God’s hand.”
The second came four minutes later, when Maradona sped past five English players and Shilton to score the “Goal of the Century,” according to a FIFA poll conducted in 2002.
Argentina won the rematch 2-1 after Bin Nasser allowed Maradona’s controversial first goal to stand, and went on to win the World Cup.
Bin Nasser said ahead of the sale that he felt it was the right time to share the item with the world and expressed hope that the buyer, whose identity has not been revealed, would put it on public display.
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