The ball used in the 1986 World Cup quarter-final between Argentina and England, in which Diego Maradona scored his famous “Hand of God” goal, has been sold at auction for $3.35 million, TodayPress TV reports, citing Goal.
The lot, offered at auction by Heritage Auctions, had an initial price of $2.5 million. It was with this ball that Maradona opened the scoring with the controversial handball goal. Four minutes later, the Argentine forward scored another spectacular goal after a solo run.
Although the lot had been valued in advance at up to $10 million, the final sale price was significantly lower than that figure. Nevertheless, the ball failed to surpass the record set in 2022, when the shirt Maradona wore in that match was sold for $9.3 million.
It should be noted that the ball was also auctioned in 2022 and sold for $2.37 million. In 2023, a $2.04 million bid failed to meet the reserve price, so the sale did not go through.
