Diego Maradona’s famous ‘Hand of God’ shirt has been sold at an auction for £7,142,500, becoming the most expensive item of football memorabilia of all time in the process.
Plenty of clubs will spend less than that on actual players, complete with shirts, shorts, socks, boots and all.
But some bits of football memorabilia are worthy of their stratospheric cost. We’ve taken a look at six of the most expensive.
Maradona’s shirt – £7.14m
As previously mentioned, the shirt worn by Maradona as he infamously palmed the ball into England’s net in the 1986 World Cup quarter-final is now by far and away the priciest piece of memorabilia.
It’s a stylish number, too: the light and dark blue stripes, teamed with the gold v-neck and the silvery grey 10 emblazoned on the back.
And if you look closely, you can just about make out some of Peter Shilton’s tears.
“This historic shirt is a tangible reminder of an important moment not only in the history of sports, but in the history of the 20th century,” Brahm Wachter, head of streetwear and modern collectables at Sotheby’s, told Sky Sports.
“This is arguably the most coveted football shirt to ever come to auction, and so it is fitting that it now holds the auction record for any object of its kind.”
READ: 16 of the best quotes on Diego Maradona: ‘The greatest of all time’
Football rulebook – £881,250
The first-ever rulebook in the sport’s history fetched almost a million quid back in 2011.
It came from Sheffield FC, the first-ever club, and dated back to 1857.
Before then, football was a lawless, chaotic free-for-all, but the introduction of rules like indirect free kicks, corners and the use of a crossbar helped bring some order to the game.
Handball was still perfectly legal, though. Maradona would’ve loved it.
The FA Cup – £759,062
For about as much as Cristiano Ronaldo earns in a week, you could have got yourself the second edition of the FA Cup trophy in 2005.
That was what…