"It was the hand of Diego." Maradona admitted it himself, on television, in 2005 — nearly two decades after the fact. Peter Shilton never accepted that apology. And now the Adidas Azteca ball at the center of it all has changed hands again, fetching $3.35 million at Heritage Auctions last Saturday.
The ball belonged to referee Ali Bin Nasser, the man who missed the handball that day in Mexico City. He sold it through Graham Budd Auctions in 2022 for $2.37 million. A follow-up attempt through Goldin Auctions in 2023 collapsed — the final $2.04 million bid didn't clear the reserve. This latest sale, starting at $2.5 million and closing at $3.35 million, finally landed. Well below the $10 million estimated value, but still a number that tells you exactly how much weight this piece of rubber and leather carries forty years on.
What actually happened on June 22, 1986
Argentina and England met in the World Cup quarterfinal at Estadio Azteca in front of 114,000 people. The first half was scoreless and suffocating. Then, six minutes into the second half, Maradona punched the ball past Shilton with his left fist. Bin Nasser didn't see it. Neither did his linesman. Goal given. Argentina 1-0.
Four minutes later, Maradona collected the ball in his own half and ran 70 meters, beat six England players, and scored again. That goal was later voted the "Goal of the Century" by FIFA fans ahead of the 2002 World Cup. Victor Hugo Morales lost his mind on Radio Argentina: "Genius! Genius! Genius! I want to cry! Dear God! Long live football!"
Argentina won 2-1. They went on to win the World Cup. And the first goal has never stopped being argued about.
Shilton still isn't letting it go — and he has a point
"He cheated," Shilton told The Guardian in 2020. "The whole England team suffered because he cheated. He didn't show any remorse." Maradona's eventual admission — on a TV chat show, decades later, followed by his written acknowledgment in his autobiography — didn't move Shilton at all. Too little, too late.
Compare that to Miroslav Klose, who in a 2012 Serie A match between Lazio and Napoli voluntarily told the referee he'd scored with his hand. Goal overturned. Different era, same sport, completely different instinct.
Maradona passed away in November 2020. The debate didn't go with him. And now a leather ball — the one Bin Nasser held in his hands after the final whistle — is sitting in someone's private collection worth $3.35 million, carrying both the most audacious cheat and the greatest individual goal in World Cup history inside the same 90 minutes of football.
That's the thing about this ball. It isn't just memorabilia. It's evidence.
