Argentina’s World-Cup winning captain and 8-time Ballon d’Or winner Lionel Messi is auctioning his game-worn shirts that he played in during the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar.
All the shirts were worn by him during the first-half of the six matches of the Argentine campaign.
The auction is expected to gather $10 million in bids at the Sotheby’s, fine arts company, in New York. Experts believe that the value of these jerseys will increase in a decade, and further in two decades, as currently they are very fresh.
Billy Lesnak – marketing coordinator for Steel City Collectibles in Pittsburgh – said, “These game-worn jerseys are something that somebody can touch, something that they can frame, something that they can show off that they then own. It’s a physical, tangible reminder of their favorite players, some way that they can get closer to the game that they can’t in any other way.”
Lesnak believes that these shirts exude emotion and are far better than a picture or video of the 2022 event.
Simeon Lipman — a pop culture specialist and appraiser in upstate New York — said that the stains, odor and smell are all part of the experience. Anyone who buys the shirt will have access to a historical item worn by a historical player.
