CELEBRITY
Diego Maradona’s ‘Hand of God’ shirt to be sold at auction
The Argentina shirt worn by Diego Maradona when he scored his infamous ‘Hand of God’ goal against England at the 1986 World Cup is to be auctioned.
According to a BBC report, the iconic blue away shirt, currently owned by former England midfielder Steve Hodge, is expected to fetch more than £4m.
Maradona also scored one of greatest World Cup goals in that game on the way to winning the tournament.
After Maradona died in November 2020, Hodge said the shirt was not for sale.
In December that year Hodge said he had “people knocking on my door non-stop”, and that reports he was looking to sell the shirt were false. “I find it disrespectful and totally wrong,” he added at the time. “It’s not for sale. I am not trying to sell it.”
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Midfielder Hodge, 59, who appeared in two World Cups for England and won 24 caps, has been in possession of the shirt since swapping it with Maradona in the tunnel after the 1986 quarter-final which Argentina won 2-1.
Hodge loaned the shirt to the National Football Museum, where it has been for housed for 20 years, but it will now be auctioned at Sotheby’s in London with bidding open from April 20 to May 4.
The current record price for a shirt worn during a game is held by New York Yankees legend Babe Ruth’s baseball jersey, which sold for $5.6m (£4.4m) in 2019.
Maradona is widely considered one of the greatest ever footballers, playing a hugely significant role in Argentina’s World Cup win at Mexico ’86.
He played for Boca Juniors, Barcelona, Sevilla and Newell’s Old Boys in a glittering club career, but it was at Napoli between 1984 and 1991 that he cemented his reputation as the world’s best player of his generation.
He captained them to their first ever Italian Serie A title in 1986-87, and followed it with a second in 1989-90, as well as winning the Uefa Cup, Coppa Italia and Italian Super Cup with the club.
Cristiano Ronaldo has become the first footballer to reach billionaire status, according to the latest Bloomberg Billionaires Index, which has valued the Portugal great’s net worth at an estimated $1.4 billion.
The 40-year-old striker’s financial ascent comes after he signed a new contract with Saudi side Al-Nassr in June reportedly worth more than $400 million.
Bloomberg said that Ronaldo earned more than $550 million in salary between 2002 and 2023, supplemented by a decade-long Nike deal worth nearly $18 million annually, and lucrative endorsements with Armani, Castrol and others that added more than $175 million to his fortune.
Ronaldo’s move to Al-Nassr from Manchester United in 2023 had already made him the highest-paid player in football history, with an annual salary of 177 million pounds ($237.52 million), plus bonuses and a reported 15% share in his Saudi Arabia club.
Argentina and Inter Miami forward Lionel Messi has earned more than $600 million in pre-tax salary during his career.
Ronaldo’s billionaire status places him among a rare group of athletes that includes basketball greats Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson and LeBron James, golfer Tiger Woods and tennis player Roger Federer.
Ronaldo suggested he is not considering retirement any time soon.
“I still have a passion for this,” he said at the Portugal Football Globes gala on Tuesday. “My family says it’s time to quit and they ask me why I want to score 1000 goals if I’ve already scored 900-something. But I don’t think that way inside.
“I’m still producing good things, I’m helping my club and the national team. Why not continue? I am sure that when I finish I will leave full because I gave everything of myself. I know I don’t have many years left to play, but the few I have left, I have to enjoy them to the fullest.”
-Reuters
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Former England soccer captain David Beckham and actor Gary Oldman were knighted in King Charles’ annual birthday honours list on Saturday, while sculptor Antony Gormley was made a Companion of Honour.
Beckham, 50, joined Manchester United as a trainee in 1993, going on to make almost 400 appearances for the club where he won a string of titles and cups.
He subsequently played for Real Madrid, LA Galaxy, and Inter Milan, as well as captaining his country 58 times and making 115 appearances.
His marriage to fashion designer and former Spice Girl Victoria Beckham in 1999 cemented a celebrity status which went far beyond his sporting exploits.
Oldman, 67, started his career on the stage, where he was a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company, before rising to prominence in film. He won the best actor Oscar for playing Winston Churchill in the 2017 drama “Darkest Hour”.
He also had roles in the “Dark Knight Trilogy” and the “Harry Potter” movie series and more recently starred in the TV spy drama “Slow Horses”.
Other famous names receiving honours included damehoods for musical theatre star Elaine Paige, novelist Pat Barker and ceramics maker Emma Bridgewater.
Roger Daltrey, lead singer of rock band the Who and a patron of the Teenage Cancer Trust, received a knighthood for services to charity.
More than 1,200 people received honours for their achievements, with a particular focus on those who had given their time to public service, the government said.
King Charles’ official birthday will be celebrated with the annual “Trooping the Colour” military parade in London on Saturday. His actual birthday is on November 14
-Reuters
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One of three judges in Diego Maradona’s closely scrutinized homicide trial in Argentina resigned on Tuesday amid a scandal triggered by the alleged filming of an unauthorised documentary, bringing uncertainty to the future of legal proceedings.
The high-profile trial over the death of soccer star Maradona began on March 11 in the South American country where the World Cup winner is still revered.
-Reuters
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