A SHIRT worn by the late Diego Maradona during the infamous 1986 World Cup quarter-final between Argentina and England was sold today at Sotheby’s for £7,142,500 — making it the world’s most valuable item of sports clothing in history.

Previously, the record price was for a New York Yankees jersey worn by Babe Ruth between 1928 and 1930 which was auctioned off for $5.64 million (£4.52m) in June 2019.

Following a two-week online auction, the 36-year-old blue Le Coq Sportif jersey, owned by former Nottingham Forest, Spurs and Leeds United midfielder Steve Hodge who swapped shirts with Maradona in the Estadio Azteca tunnel immediately after the game, has now surpassed that figure, selling for $9.3m.

Prior to this auction, the most expensive football jersey in history was also worn during a World Cup match in Mexico City.

An anonymous telephone bidder paid £157,750 for the Brazil shirt worn by Pele during the 1970 World Cup final which was auctioned in 2002 by Christie’s on behalf of Roberto Rosato, the Italian defender who swapped shirts with him at the end of the game.

The England jersey worn by Geoff Hurst in the 1966 World Cup final was previously sold for £91,750.

Maradona, who died in October 2020, will forever be defined by the two goals he scored within five minutes of that 1986 World Cup match.

The first a hand-ball past England goalkeeper Peter Shilton, which he claimed afterwards was allowed to stand due to “the hand of God,” followed by an incredible individual slalom from inside his own half past five England players to score what is widely known as “the goal of the century.”

Despite a late England rally, those goals won Argentina the match, 2-1.

A week later, Maradona ensured his sporting immortality by captaining his country to victory in the World Cup final.

The Maradona shirt is truly a one of a kind. For the second game in succession, Argentina were forced to wear their away strip of dark blue to avoid a clash with the white English shirts.

However, the players were unhappy with their designated kit for their previous match against Uruguay. Lacking the eyelet mesh, or air-tech, of their striped home kit, the alternative jerseys became heavy during a second-half thunderstorm.

Despite a request from head coach Carlos Bilardo, Le Coq Sportif were unable to produce a suitable replacement in time so Ruben Moschella, an office employee from the Argentinian FA, went shopping in Mexico City to find a suitable set of blue jerseys.

Having selected two candidates, which Moschella recalls being “very cheap,” it was left to the players to chose, Maradona pointed to one, striped and more shiny than their issued shirts, declaring: “That one. We’ll beat England in that one.”

Four women who worked as housemaids at the Club America facilities where the South American squad had based themselves for the tournament were then given the task of sewing on the Argentina badges which were cut out from the shirts they had worn against Uruguay.

Therefore, the crest is uniquely missing the laurel leaves traditionally beneath the Argentina badge. The label on the shirt also reads “Hecho in Mexico” (Made in Mexico).

Unable to find suitable white numbers  for the back of the shirts, Moschella improvised testing a grey cloth which was covered in glitter and manufactured to be used on American football shirts against the new blue shirts.

The numbers were cut out with scissors and ironed on. The unofficial silver numbers covered the players who wore them during the match in sparkles.

After the match, Argentina reverted to their home kit for the semi-final and final, so the shirts were never worn again, adding to their uniqueness and mystique.

For Hodge, England’s left midfielder that day who unwittingly assisted the famous Hand of God goal by attempting a lofted back-pass which Maradona intercepted, obtaining the shirt in the first place was down to luck and circumstance.

As Maradona was mobbed by celebrating team-mates after the game, it appears that Chris Waddle was asking to swap shirts with him when the Argentinian captain nodded and pointed to the tunnel.

As Hodge walked off the pitch with Waddle, he was pulled for a post-match interview on ITV with Jim Rosenthal. The delay meant he entered the tunnel at the same time as Maradona.

Hodge seized his opportunity, gesturing by tugging on his own shirt. After swapping, Maradona bowed in thanks and walked away.

Initially kept in Hodge’s loft, the shirt has been on display since 2002 at the National Football Museum in Manchester.

Its legitimacy was called into question by Maradona’s daughter Dalma who claimed he gave Hodge the shirt he wore in the first half but extensive “resolution photomatching” from Sotheby’s, plus confirmation in Maradona’s own autobiography, Touched by God, have proved the shirt auctioned off in London was worn when he scored two of the most celebrated goals in football history.

For the past two weeks, the shirt has been on public display at the Sotheby’s gallery in central London.

Hodge claims never to have washed the jersey since obtaining it. Unlike the shirt worn in the first half, the crest on the second half shirt is slightly tilted to the right.

The right edge of the “0” in the number “10” on the back is aligned to the dark blue stripe on the shirt, unlike the one worn in the first half which comes over the lighter blue stripe.

No details have so far been released about the winning bidder but at least six bids were made within the last hour, almost doubling the initial bid of £4m made on the day the auction opened.

A delegation from Argentina led by collector Marcelo Ordas is said to have bid £5m to take the shirt back to Argentina but were ultimately unsuccessful.