SIX MONTHS after the shirt worn by Diego Maradona during the notorious 1986 World Cup quarter-final was sold for £7.1 million, the football used during the same match has been put up for auction by Graham Budd Auctions Ltd and is expected to fetch between £2.5 and 3 million as part of a collection of World Cup memorabilia being offered for sale over the next two weeks.

The ball is being auctioned by the referee from the game, Tunisian Ali Bin Nasser, who infamously failed to spot that Maradona handled the ball past Peter Shilton for the first goal, which has became known as the “Hand of God.”

Immediately after the game, Bin Nasser claimed possession of the ball, which he asked the three other officials from the game, Bogdan Dotchev, Berny Ulloa and Idrissa Traore to sign, and has kept it at his home in Tunisia until now.