Six football shirts worn by Argentine megastar Lionel Messi at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar have sold for $7.8 million at auction, the auction house told AFP on Thursday.
There were three bids in total on what auction house Sotheby’s described as
Lionel Messi’s match-worn iconic light blue and white, vertical striped Argentina shirts from his historic 2022 FIFA World Cup run.
The hammer price broke the record for a sale of an item linked to the Argentine star, and is the most valuable item of sporting memorabilia sold at auction this year so far, Sotheby’s said.
Argentina defeated France in a penalty shootout after a 3-3 draw in the World Cup final, winning its third World Cup. The victory, in which Messi scored two of Argentina’s three goals, represented a crowning moment for one of the sport’s greatest-ever players.
Brahm Wachter, Sotheby’s head of modern collectibles, said in a statement,
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.
No information on the winning bidder was released.
Sotheby’s said a portion of the auction proceeds would be donated to the UNICAS Project, led by Sant Joan de Déu Barcelona Children’s Hospital with the support of the Leo Messi Foundation, to help children suffering from rare diseases.
The 36-year-old Messi, who currently plays for Inter Miami in the MLS, spent 17 years at Barcelona. He has won the Ballon d’Or, which is presented annually to the game’s top player, a record eight times.
Sotheby’s 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 at Sotheby’s in New York last year.
