"Hand of God" match ball fetches $3.35 million at auction

 The iconic Adidas Azteca from the historic 1986 Argentina vs. England World Cup quarterfinal officially entered the ranks of the most expensive football memorabilia in history.

The auction concluded over the weekend via Heritage Auctions in Dallas, with an anonymous buyer placing the winning bid of $3,350,000 USD.

The ball originally belonged to Tunisian match referee Ali Bin Nasser, who sold it in 2022 for $2.37 million. The single Adidas Azteca was used for the entire 90 minutes, seeing both Maradona's controversial "Hand of God" punch and his celebrated "Goal of the Century".

Maradona continues to dominate football memorabilia records. His match-worn shirt from the same fixture holds the record for a football jersey at $9.3 million (sold at Sotheby's in 2022), while this Azteca now stands as the most valuable football ever sold at auction.