2026-08-24 09:10:07

The football with which Diego Maradona scored his infamous ‘Hand of God’ goal against England has sold for $3.3 million at auction in the US.

The Adidas Azteca ball that was used in the 1986 World Cup quarter-final clash between Argentina and the Three Lions ended up selling for considerably less than the $10 million estimate at Heritage Auctions in Dallas.

Bidding had opened at $2.5 million for an item that was described by Heritage as the “most famous ball in the history” of sport.

Auction officials felt that the football could have reached a similar price to Maradona’s shirt from the same match, which set a record for sports memorabilia when it fetched almost $9.3 million at Sotheby’s in 2022.

The record has since been broken by a New York Yankees jersey worn by the legendary Babe Ruth during the 1932 baseball World Series, which sold for $24.12 million at Heritage in 2024.

Maradona scored the ‘Hand of God’ goal by punching the ball into the net past goalkeeper Peter Shilton to give Argentina the lead against England in the World Cup quarter-final at the Azteca Stadium in Mexico City.

Four minutes later, the football icon – who died aged 60 in 2020 – scored the ‘Goal of the Century’ with the same ball to double Argentina’s advantage as the South Americans went on to win 2-1 en route to their second World Cup triumph.

The ball had been owned for decades by Ali Bin Nasser – the Tunisian referee who had failed to spot that Maradona had handled illegally.

Nasser sold the item for $2.37 million in 2022.

The ball went on sale again the following year and received a final bid of $2.04 million through Goldin Auctions, but failed to reach the minimum price set by the seller.

Nasser said of the ‘Hand of God’ goal: “I couldn’t see the incident clearly. The two players, Shilton and Maradona, were facing me from behind.

“As per FIFA’s instructions issued before the tournament I looked to my linesman for confirmation of the validity of the goal. He made his way back to the halfway line indicating he was satisfied that the goal should stand.

“At the end of the match the England head coach, Bobby Robson, said to me: ‘You did a good job but the linesman was irresponsible.'”

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