Diego Maradona’s daughter insists that the Argentina jersey up for auction this month for £4 million is not the one he wore when he scored his famous double against England in the 1986 World Cup quarter-final.
This comes a day after it was reported that former England midfielder Steve Hodge would sell the shirt in a ‘special online action,’ with the shirt placed on display in Sotheby’s London showroom on Bond Street throughout the bidding period of April 20 to May 4.
‘That ex-England player thinks he’s got my dad’s second-half shirt, but there’s a misunderstanding,’ Dalma Maradona told Radio Metro. He’s on top in the first half. I wanted to make it clear to everybody so that anyone interested in purchasing it is aware of the facts.’
‘My mother doesn’t have it,’ she continued when asked who had the second-half garment. I know who has it, but I’m not going to mention who it belongs to in order to protect that person’s identity.
‘All I can say is that the one up for auction isn’t the one my father used to score his goals.’
On Thursday, Sotheby’s responded to Dalma’s charges, calling them “fake.”
‘Maradona did wear a different shirt in the first half, but there are noticeable discrepancies between that and what he wore during the goals,’ a spokesman added.
‘Before placing this shirt up for sale, we conducted rigorous due diligence and scientific study to ensure it was the shirt worn by Maradona for the two goals in the second half.’
‘This artefact has indisputable provenance; it is being consigned by the man who kicked Maradona’s ball during the Hand of God play,’ she continued.
In his autobiography ‘Touched by God,’ Maradona admits the provenance and recalls delivering it to Steve Hodge.
‘It’s been in the National Football Museum for 20 years, and it’s been seen by innumerable people.’ It has never been claimed that the problem is with the shirt.’
Sotheby’s engaged a third-party expert to Photomatch the jersey being auctioned, which found’multiple conclusive matches’ to the one Maradona used to score his two second-half goals.
‘Sotheby’s worked with Resolution Photomatching in order to match the shirt to both goals, scrutinizing unique details on numerous components of the item, including the patch, stripes, and numbering,’ according to a catalogue note about the item.
‘Resolution After ‘The Hand of God’ goal, photomatching was able to produce a conclusive photomatch to the celebration.
In the 1986 World Cup in Mexico, Maradona scored two of the most iconic goals in World Cup history to knock the Three Lions out in the quarter-finals.
The late great former Argentina captain leaped above Peter Shilton to punch his side into the lead during the quarter-final at the Azteca Stadium, and the authorities failed to see that he had handled the ball.
The goal was scored “a bit with Maradona’s head, and a little with God’s hand,” according to the forward at the time.
After the last-eight match, the mercurial Napoli legend swapped clothes with England player Steve Hodge.