The football Diego Maradona used to score his Hand of God goal against England in the 1986 World Cup has emerged for sale after being kept in the referee’s cupboard for almost four decades. The Adidas Azteca ball was taken by Ali Bennaceur, the Tunisian referee, immediately after the famous game that Argentina controversially won 2-1. The retired match official, now aged 79, stored the ball in a cupboard at his home in Tunisia. He decided to auction off the piece of sporting memorabilia after seeing the number 10 shirt worn by Maradona in the same game sell for over £7 million earlier this year. Mr. Bennaceur intends to sell the ball for £3 million. He has two grown-up sons and plans to split the proceeds of the London sale with his family.
Speaking ahead of the auction next month, Mr. Bennaceur said that he did not see Maradona clearly punch the ball over England goalkeeper Peter Shilton and into the empty net: “(Refereeing) the ‘86 match was a dream come true,” adding: “As for Maradona’s first goal I couldn’t see the incident clearly, the two players Shilton and Maradona were facing me from behind. As per FIFA’s instructions issued before the tournament I looked to my linesman for confirmation of the validity of the goal - he made his way back to the halfway line indicating he was satisfied that the goal should stand. At the end of the match the England head coach Bobby Robson said to me ‘You did a good job, but the linesman was irresponsible’.” He added: “This ball is part of international football history - it feels like the right time to be sharing it with the world. I hope the buyer is in a position to put it on display or share it with the public in some other way. England is the home of football and has been since the game started.”
Adam Gascoigne, of Graham Budd Auctions, said: “The referee has had the ball ever since the match. Unlike today where you have a multi-ball system in place at games, this was the only ball used in the match from start to finish so there is no doubt this was the ball used by Maradona to score his Hand of God goal. It has just been sitting in a cupboard for years and Mr. Bennaceur has decided now is the right time to sell it. When you look at how much the Maradona shirt sold for, it is no surprise that the estimate for the ball is between £2.5 million to £3 million.” The size 5 Adidas Azteca balls were the first synthetic balls used at a World Cup as opposed to leather. The football will go under the hammer at Graham Budd Auctions in London on November 16.
Source: The Telegraph
