The game used match ball from the 1986 FIFA World Cup final between Argentina and Germany has been sold by Graham Budd Auctions for £36,000 plus 24% premium - a total of £44,640.
The black and white Adidas ball with 32 pentagonal panels was sold with a letter of provenance from Romauldo Arppi Filho, the Brazilian football referee who officiated the final.
Fiho and his linesmen Erik Fredriksson and Bernylloa Morea had also autographed the ball, which had an estimate of £30,000 - £50,000.
The Adidas Azteca football was the official ball of the 1986 Mexico World Cup.
The final took place at the Estadio Azteca In Mexico City with 114,600 fans in attendance to see Diego Maradona's Argentina beat West Germany 3-2.
However the football fell some way short of the world record for a World Cup Final match ball, and at £46,640 can be considered a huge bargain.
In November 2006 the ball used during the 2006 World Cup final between Italy and France sold for $2.4m at a charity auction in Qatar.
The price was a then world record figure for a piece of football memorabilia, until the sale of Maradona's Hand Of God shirt for £7.14m in May 2022.
About your Author:
Adrian Roose has over 30 years’ experience covering all aspects of the rare stamp & memorabilia industry during which he has sold over £50m of unique items, helping build collections for Royalty, household name celebrities and 1,000s of collectors around the world.
Adrian was previously a Director at Stanley Gibbons, a Board Member of Stampex, and Executive Director of Paul Fraser Collectibles, PFC Auctions and JustCollecting, prior to founding The Memorabilia Club.