Diego Maradona's infamous “Hand of God” ball is set to go up for auction. Naturally, anyone who wants to get it will have to pay big.
Goldin will be handling the auction, which starts on Friday. The starting bid is at $600,000 including buyer's premium.
No football fan doesn't know about the “Hand of God” goal that Maradona scored in the 1986 World Cup quarterfinals against England. The Argentine legend opened the scoring six minutes into the second half of the contest, albeit in a controversial manner as it was his right hand that touched the ball and sent it to England's goal. It remains the most controversial goal in football history, and it also poses one of the biggest “What ifs” in sports history since Argentina went on to win the title that year.
According to the auction listing at Goldin, the ball came directly from the match referee Ali Bennaceur, who has owned the ball ever since that historic 1986 game. It has also been photo-matched by Resolution Photomatching.
It is unknown how much the ball will fetch in auction, but expectations are high that it will go millions considering how much Diego Maradona World Cup memorabilia are going for. Maradona passed away in 2020.
“To highlight the significance of this ball, items from this memorable game, played nearly 40 years ago, continue to sell for significantly high prices, including Maradona's jersey from that game that sold for $9.3 million at auction in May of 2022. Imagine the value of this ball that was touched by the “Hand of God.” This comes with a letter of provenance from Ali Bennaceur, the match referee of the June 22, 1986, game between Argentina and England at the 1986 World Cup, plus an LOA from Resolution Photomatching (36410), which provided a ResMatch for the ball,” the listing description furthered.
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