CELEBRITY
MARADONA SHIRT AND PELÉ TROPHY PUT UP FOR AUCTION
Items from the careers of Diego Maradona and Pelé are being auctioned this week, including a jersey from the Argentinian’s testimonial match and a unique replica of the World Cup awarded to the Brazilian legend by FIFA.
Julien’s Auctions have taken advantage of the upsurge in interest in Maradona following his sudden death last Wednesday (November 25) by adding several items to its Icons & Idols Trilogy: Sports auction on Friday (December 4).
These include a ball game used and signed by several Napoli players, including Maradona, during the 1988-1989 Italian Championship “Calcio” season and a framed display featuring jerseys signed by both him and Pelé.
Early bidding has seen strong interest in the FILA brand Argentina national team commemorative jersey signed by Maradona from a testimonial match given in his honour in Buenos Aires in November 2010.
More than 50,000 people turned up to see Argentina beat an All-Star World XI 6-3 with Maradona scoring twice.
So far, bidding has reached $2,500 (£1,900/€2,000).
The most famous shirt Maradona wore, however, has not so far been up for auction, even though it is claimed it could fetch as much as $2 million (£1.5 million/€1.7 million).
It is the shirt that Maradona wore during Argentina’s 2-1 victory over England in the quarter-final of the FIFA World Cup in 1986 – the match famous for the “Hand of God” but which also featured a goal voted the best of the 20th century.
The shirt, currently on display at England’s National Football Museum in Manchester, was given to former England international Steve Hodge by Maradona himself after the match in Mexico City.
David Amerman of Goldin Auctions in New Jersey believes the shirt could well smash records if Hodge wanted to sell it.
“It’s very difficult to gauge [the value] with the ‘Hand of God’ jersey, but I know that the owner was looking for a $2 million private sale,” Amerman told Reuters.
“It certainly could be a possibility, the values have jumped quite a bit in soccer.”
Hodge, however, denied the report he was looking to cash in on the shirt.
“I just find it totally wrong and disrespectful,” Hodge told The Sun.
“It is not for sale.
“I have had it for 34 years now and I have never once tried to sell it or hawk it, and definitely not at the moment.
“I like having it.
“For me it has incredible sentimental value because it was the pinnacle of my career at 23.”
The replica Jules Rimet trophy created for Pelé was awarded to him after he helped Brazil win the World Cup for a third time in 1970.
The one-of-a-kind trophy is among several top-of-the-range items being offered in a joint sale between Sotheby’s and Goldin Auctions, including Muhammad Ali, Babe Ruth, Wayne Gretzky and Rafael Nadal.
It is estimated that it could fetch as much as $800,000 (£600,000/€670,000) when the auction ends on Thursday (December 3).
That would mark a big increase on when it was sold for £395,000 (£526,000/€440,000) four years ago in London, at a sale of Pelé’s personal collection organised by Julien’s Auctions, when Swiss watchmaking giant Hublot made the final bid.
At the same auction, two of Pelé’s three World Cup winners’ medals also went under the hammer, selling for a collective £340,000 ($450,000/€380,000).
The current world-record price for an item of sports memorabilia was set in December 2019 when Pierre de Coubertin’s 1892 Olympic Manifesto sold in New York for $8.8 million (£6.6 million/€7.3 million), eight times the expected price.
It was bought by Russian oligarch Alisher Usmanov, the President of the International Fencing Federation, who donated it to the Olympic Museum.
-insidethegames
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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