Devendra Kumar
Sotheby’s auction house announced that six football shirts worn by Lionel Messi during Argentina’s winning run at the 2022 Fifa World Cup have sold for a staggering 7.8 million dollars, with the final price being the highest for an item of sports memorabilia this year. The shirts, each worn during the first half of one of Argentina’s games at the Qatar tournament, are incredibly rare and highly sought after by collectors and fans alike. The winning bidder, whose identity was not released, paid a premium price for the chance to own a piece of history and to wear a different jersey worn by one of the greatest footballers of all time.
The shirts were on display at Sotheby’s New York headquarters during the two-week online auction that ended on Thursday, and a portion of the auction proceeds will be donated to the Unicas Project, led by Sant Joan de Deu Barcelona Children’s Hospital with the support of the Leo Messi Foundation, to help children suffering from rare diseases. Messi, 36, spent 17 years at Barcelona and has won the Ballon d’Or a record eight times, cementing his status as one of the greatest players in the history of the sport.
The auction house had hoped that the Messi shirts might set an auction record for game-worn sports memorabilia, but that did not occur. The record for a game-worn item of sports memorabilia remains Michael Jordan’s 1998 NBA Finals jersey, which sold for 10.1 million dollars at Sotheby’s in New York last year. Despite not breaking the record, the sale of Messi’s shirts is still an impressive achievement, and the jerseys are sure to be highly prized possessions for their new owner.
The significance of the shirts lies not only in their historical importance but also in their connection to Messi, one of the most decorated football players in history. “These historic shirts are not only a tangible reminder of one of the most important moments in the history of sports, but are principally connected to the pinnacle moment in the career of the most decorated football player in history,” said Brahm Wachter, Sotheby’s head of modern collectibles, in a statement. For Messi fans and collectors, owning a piece of his equipment worn during the World Cup victory is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to own a piece of history, and the shirts are sure to be a valuable addition to any collection.