The football Diego Maradona used to score his notorious “Hand of God” goal against England at the 1986 World Cup has been sold for £2.5m at a US auction.
The Adidas Azteca ball went for $3.3m at Heritage Auctions on Saturday, well below the $10m (£7.3m) valuation experts had placed on it.
Maradona used the ball throughout Argentina’s 2-1 quarter-final victory over England at Estadio Azteca in Mexico City, in what remains one of the most talked-about matches in World Cup history.
He scored both goals in that game, but it was the opener that sparked lasting controversy. Maradona punched the ball past England goalkeeper Peter Shilton, and the referee, failing to spot the handball, allowed the goal to stand. Maradona later described the goal as being scored “a little with the head of Maradona and a little with the hand of God.”
Minutes after that contentious goal, Maradona produced a moment of magic that told a very different story. Picking up the ball in his own half, he dribbled past five England players, went round Shilton, and slotted it in — a goal still remembered today as the “goal of the century.”
The match ball stayed with Tunisian referee Ali Bin Nasser for more than 30 years after he took it home at full time. Bin Nasser eventually sold it in 2022 for $2.37m (£1.74m). The buyer then tried to resell it in 2023, but the auction failed after bids didn’t meet the reserve price.
Ahead of Saturday’s sale, Heritage Auctions specialist Mike Provenzale called the ball a one-of-a-kind piece of football history. Bin Nasser had signed a letter in 2023 confirming the Adidas Azteca was the only ball used in the match, a claim later backed by independent authentication.
The sale comes four years after another iconic item from the same game made auction history — Maradona’s Argentina jersey from that World Cup quarter-final sold for £7.1m in 2022.
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