Diego Maradona's ‘Hand of God’ World Cup ball gets sold, here's the amount it fetched
The 1986 World Cup ball that Diego Maradona punched to give Argentina the lead went under the hammer at Graham Budd Auctions in London on Wednesday.
- SportFit
- 2 min read
Argentina vs England's quarterfinal match at the 1986 World Cup is still remembered for the controversial 'Hand of God' goal scored by the late Diego Maradona. The ball that Maradona punched to give Argentina the lead went under the hammer at Graham Budd Auctions in London on Wednesday ahead of the upcoming FIFA World Cup in Qatar. The World Cup ball was put up for auction by former World Cup referee Ali Bin Nasser who was in charge of the controversial match.
How much money was paid to buy Diego Maradona's hand of god ball?
The 1986 World Cup ball was sold for nearly $2.4 million during the auction. This is not the only item from the controversial match which went under auction in the past. Six months back, the shirt worn by Maradona at the time of the infamous incident fetched 7.1 million pounds and shattered records of sports memorabilia going under the hammer.
A look back at Diego Maradona's 'hand of god' goal incident
With both teams unable to open scoring, Argentina’s team was passing the ball around the edge of the England penalty box during the second half. One of the England players tried to clear the ball but only succeeded in kicking it high above the goalkeeper. Maradona jumped as if to head the ball but instead punched it past England goalkeeper Peter Shilton. Referee Bin Nasser failed to spot the handball as Maradona went on to score a superb solo second. Argentina won the grudge match 2-1. The late footballer quipped afterwards that it was scored “a little with the head of Maradona and a little with the hand of God”.
Ahead of the auction, Bin Nasser, while defending his decision, said that he couldn’t see the incident clearly as England's Peter Shilton and the late Diego Maradona, were facing him from behind. "As per FIFA’s instructions issued before the tournament, I looked to my linesman for confirmation of the validity of the goal — he made his way back to the halfway line indicating he was satisfied that the goal should stand. At the end of the match, the England head coach Bobby Robson said to me, ‘You did a good job, but the linesman was irresponsible,” he said.