Maradona’s ‘Hand of God’ ball heads to auction in Dallas

The match ball from Argentina’s 1986 World Cup quarterfinal against England – better known as the ‘Hand of God’ ball, thanks to Diego Maradona’s famous goal – is set to go up for auction. It has been auctioned before, previously for $2.4m.

Maradona’s shirt from that match sold for about $9 million back in 2022. Maradona and Argentina would return to the Estadio Azteca to win the tournament soon after, their second World Cup title. England has not played there since.

The ‘Hand of God’ is famous because Maradona punched the ball in using his left hand over the English goalkeeper, making the score 1-0.Four minutes later, Maradona struck again. The Argentinian took 11 seconds and 11 touches to pass six English defenders and score what was later voted the “Goal of the Century.” The game ended 2-1.

The goal should not have stood, but no VAR meant no replay to overturn the call.

The game referee kept the ball in Tunisia for more than three decades.

This comes ahead of England’s return to the Azteca for the 2026 FIFA World Cup Round of 16 against Mexico Sunday at 7 p.m. North Texas will likely be rocking from Sunday night right into the US Men’s National Team game against Belgium on Monday at 7 p.m. The winners of those games are headed to this year’s quarterfinals.

Mexico has never lost a World Cup game at the Azteca (7-3-0) and has only lost twice there in its history (70-17-2). England is 2-0 against Mexico in World Cup games, including on the way to their only World Cup title. That game was in England.

Maradona died at the age of 60 in November of 2020.

Argentinian soccer great Diego Maradona has died after undergoing surgery for a subdural hematoma earlier this month. He was 60 years old.