HAND OF WAD £7m
Maradona’s shirt from notorious England match sells for
FORMER England star Steve Hodge got his hands on a fortune last night after he sold Diego Maradona’s infamous 1986 World Cup shirt for a world record £7.1million.
Ex-Nottingham Forest midfielder Hodge faced fury from his teammates for swapping his shirt for the Argentine’s after their quarter-final defeat.
Maradona had scored two of the most memorable goals in football history to knock us out – the first a clear handball.
He punched the ball, which had looped off Hodge’s boot, past Peter Shilton to put his country ahead.
Later he said the goal was made “a little with the head of Maradona and a little with the hand of God”.
His second goal was lauded as “The Goal of the Century” after he dribbled past half the England team to score.
It came four years after the UK defeated Argentina in the Falklands War
so the match took on extra significance. In his autobiography, Maradona, who died in 2020 aged 60, said: “It was like beating a country, not a football team.”
There was a last-minute bid to wreck the sale by Maradona’s daughter who claimed the bright blue top was not the one her dad wore.
But it was authenticated by Sotheby’s whose spokesman confirmed it fetched £7,142,500 “a new record for any item of sports memorabilia”.
Sotheby’s expert
Brahm Wachter said:
“This historic shirt is a tangible reminder of an important moment not only in the history of sports, but the 20th century.
“Since we announced the auction we have been inundated by sports fans and collectors, with a palpable excitement in the air. This is arguably the most coveted football shirt to ever come to auction, so it is fitting it now holds the auction record for any object of its kind.”
The head of a delegation from Argentina said he would ask the winning bidders to lend them the shirt so it can be exhibited in the South American country on Maradona’s birthday – October 30.
Argentina newspaper La Nacion reported it had “ended up in the hands of a group from Abu Dhabi, close to the people who pull the strings at Manchester City”. Hodge, 59, had loaned the shirt to Manchester’s National Football Museum for 20 years and, after Maradona’s death in 2020, rejected offers sell it.
But he decided to cash in this year and said: “I have been the proud owner of this since Diego and I swapped shirts in the tunnel. It was an absolute privilege to have played against one of the most magnificent football players of all time.
“The Hand of God shirt has deep cultural meaning to the football world, the people of Argentina, and of England.”
His admiration for Maradona was not shared by his fuming teammates in the dressing room following the match.
Former Arsenal full-back Kenny Sansom recalled: “It was an angry place because we felt we’d been cheated, could have got to the final and maybe won it.
“Some of us had a go at Steve Hodge asking why he wanted Maradona’s shirt when he was a cheat.”
Maradona went on to lift the cup after a 3-2 final victory over West Germany.
Hodge was not at home last night in Nottingham. A relative said she was not expecting him back for “quite a while”.