During the 1986 World Cup quarterfinals, Diego Maradona netted a pair of goals for Argentina, securing a victory over the English squad.
This summer, Heritage Auctions hosted a bidding event for the match ball, widely known as the “Hand of God” ball, which wrapped up on Saturday evening.
Leading up to the sale, Heritage projected that the item would fetch around $10 million, with the opening bid set at $2.5 million on Saturday.
Although the final price of $3.35 million missed the projected $10 million mark, as reported by The Athletic, it still commanded a substantial sum. The auction house had anticipated that the soccer ball might approach the value of Maradona’s jersey from that iconic match, which fetched nearly $9.3 million at Sotheby’s in 2022.
In addition to trailing behind initial estimates and the jersey’s final price, the ball failed to claim the title of the costliest sports ball ever sold. That distinction remains with Shohei Ohtani’s historic 50th home run baseball from 2024, which went for $4.392 million.
Much of the fascination surrounding Maradona’s match ball stems from its notorious history. The legendary forward scored his initial goal against England using his hand, an infraction that went unnoticed by the refereeing crew. Since video assistant referee (VAR) technology did not exist at the time, the illegal play stood, though Maradona himself subsequently acknowledged the goal was illegitimate.
Just four minutes after that controversial moment, the football icon netted the decisive, and completely valid, winning goal. Maradona subsequently guided the Argentinian team to a World Cup victory that year, cementing the legendary status of the ball, which earned the “Hand of God” moniker.
The item was initially acquired through Graham Budd Auctions in 2022 for a sum of $2.37 million. Though it returned to the auction block the next year, the top offer of $2.04 million failed to meet the seller’s reserve price, resulting in no transaction.
It was put up for sale once more this summer, capitalising on the excitement surrounding the World Cup. The fact that the final bid fell considerably short of expectations could be linked to the auction wrapping up more than a month after the tournament’s conclusion, as well as Argentina’s inability to claim the championship.
Had Argentina triumphed over Spain in the final matchup, the ball still probably would not have cracked the $10 million threshold, but it would have stood a stronger chance of overtaking Ohtani’s home run ball to establish a new record for the most valuable sports ball in history.
