There's more heartbreak on the horizon for England football fans as the football used during the infamous 'Hand of God' match versus Argentina is set to sell for £2.5m at Graham Budd Auctions in London.
Billed as 'the world's most controversial football' the ball was used throughout the full match of the England V Argentina Word Cup quarter final at Mexico 1986 in which Diego Maradona used his hand to score a goal, before scoring a second goal billed as one of the greatest ever scored.
The ball has been consigned by the match referee Ali Bin Nasser, the Tunisian match official who failed to spot Maradona's deliberate handball in the lead up to the goal, with Maradona later proclaiming the goal was scored “a little with the head of Maradona and a little with the hand of God”.
Argentina won the match 2-1 to proceed to the semi-finals and ultimately win the competition by beating West Germany 3-2 in the final.
Ali Bin Nasser has commented:
“This ball is part of international football history - it feels like the right time to be sharing it with the world. I hope the buyer is in a position to put it on display or share it with the public in some other way."
“As for Maradona’s first 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.”
The Argentinian football shirt worn by Maradona during the match was sold in May 2022 for £7,142,500 - the highest price paid for a piece of sports memorabilia at auction until the sale of Michael Jordan's 1998 NBA finals jersey for $10.1m in September 2022.
No doubt those in charge at FIFA will be looking on with interest.
Price aside which would you prefer? The ball or the shirt?
We'd go for the ball. Much more tactile and makes for the better display piece.