The soccer ball used in the 1986 World Cup match in which Diego Maradona scored his infamous “Hand of God” goal sold for $3.35 million at Heritage Auctions in Texas. The price, however, came in well below the lot’s presale estimate of $10 million.
Mike Provenzale, an auctioneer at Heritage, told Reuters before the sale that the ball was “a true one-of-a-kind item” and “arguably the most significant soccer item that exists.”
Maradona scored the goal against England in the quarterfinal in Mexico City’s Azteca Stadium in what initially appeared to be a header. Slow-motion replays showed the Argentine striker using his hand to punch the ball past goalkeeper Peter Shilton, but the referee didn’t see the foul. After the game, Maradona told reporters that the goal had been scored “a little with the head of Maradona and a little with the hand of God.”
Four minutes later, with Argentina leading 1-0, Maradona scored again. This time there was no controversy. He dribbled past several England players before finding the net, and the goal was subsequently voted the FIFA World Cup’s “Goal of the Century.”
Ali Ben Nasser, the Tunisian referee who officiated the match, has said that he couldn’t clearly see the handball because Maradona and Shilton were facing away from him.
The Adidas Azteca ball had been kept by Ben Nasser for 36 years before it was first offered at auction in 2022. Bidding hit £2 million ($2.37 million), but the reserve wasn’t met and the ball was subsequently sold to a private buyer. It returned to auction at Goldin in February 2023, where it again went unsold.
Its authenticity was independently established through photographic evidence. Heritage Auctions said experts compared distinctive characteristics on the ball, including visible marks and other identifying details, with photographs from the England match and images of other Adidas Azteca balls used during the 1986 World Cup. The analysis matched the ball to photographs from both of Maradona’s goals.
“When it came in, I worked at Heritage for 20 years and there had been a lot of items that when they arrived, they just shut down the whole department. This is on that list,” Provenzale told the Athletic before the auction. “It’s an item so iconic, even people who don’t know anything about soccer or know the event can realize the value behind the ball. Having it photo matched to both goals is just the cherry on top.”
The latest result is well below the $9.3 million paid for Maradona’s shirt from the same match at Sotheby’s in 2022. That sale set a record for a piece of sports memorabilia at the time.
The ball also fell short of the record for the most expensive sports ball. Shohei Ohtani’s 50th home-run ball, hit during his 2024 MLB season, sold for $4.39 million (including the buyer’s premium).
The 1986 quarterfinal remains one of the most significant matches in World Cup history, not least because it came four years after the Falklands War between Argentina and the UK.
