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One of the greatest footballers of all-time, Diego Maradona's iconic 'Hand of God' goal has been etched in the history of the game. Tunisian referee Ali Bin Nasser, who possessed the Adidas Azteca ball from the 1986 World Cup, has sold the ball in auction on Wednesday at the UK-based Graham Budd Auctions.
Legendary Argentina forward Diego Maradona scored his infamous 'Hand of God' goal to give his side a 1-0 lead against England in the quarterfinal of the 1986 World Cup. Nasser was the referee during the game and owned the ball since then.
The Azteca ball was included among more than 300 lots put up for sale at the Graham Budd Auctions on Wednesday. The ball was expected to fetch $3.6 million as Maradona's jersey from the same World Cup match fetched around $7 million in May this year. However, the Azteca ball, which was used at the Estadio Azteca in Mexico City, was sold for $2.4 million at the auctions.
The Barcelona and Napoli legend, who died aged 60 in November 2020, claimed his controversial opening goal against England was scored "a little with the head of Maradona and a little with the hand of God." After just four minutes of scoring the opener, Maradona ran past five England players to score a magnificent goal that was touted as "Goal of the Century", according to a 2002 FIFA poll.
Before the auction, Nasser asserted that he felt it was the right time to share the iconic artefact and conveyed his expectation from the buyer to put the ball on public display.