Is he the greatest football player ever? That’s a debate that can never be settled. But Lionel Messi may achieve one top spot if a set of his shirts become the most expensive set of sports memorabilia ever sold next month.
A Michael Jordan basketball shirt is currently the world’s most valuable game-worn sports item. It sold for $10.1 million in September 2022.
The Argentina shirt worn in 1986 by Diego Maradona while scoring his “Hand of God” goal sold for $9.3 million in 2022.
This set of six Messi shirts go to auction in a sale ending on December 14 with an estimate of over $10 million.
The Argentina shirts worn by Lionel Messi during his country’s 2022 World Cup campaign are for sale.
The shirts were worn by the Inter Miami forward during Argentina’s victorious 2022 FIFA World Cup campaign. Messi, 36, scored twice in the final against France. The game finished 3 – 3 and Argentina won the trophy in a penalty shoot out.
Some of the price of the shirts will be donated to a children’s medical charity in Barcelona, where Messi spent 17 glorious years.
The jerseys are in Argentina’s famous blue-and-white strip, with Messi’s number 10 and his name on the back. They are Adidas shirts, made of recycled polyester jacquard.
The sale particulars confirm that Messi wears a medium, slim shirt.
The six shirts were worn in two group games, and all of the knock-out phases of the cup. Argentina’s win was their third.
Messi has been widely regarded as the greatest player in the world for most of his career. His honours include eight Ballon d’Ors, the biggest individual prize in the game awarded after a vote among international players, coaches and journalist.
With Barcelona he won 10 Spanish LaLiga national titles, four Champions League titles, and three Club World Cups.
The World Cup win confirmed Messi as an all-time great. According to Brahm Wachter, of Sotheby’s who host the sale, it was “one of the greatest events in sports history, intrinsically connected to Messi’s valiant journey”.
Football memorabilia is a booming market. Shirts from the best players can fetch huge figures, particularly if they can be linked to a particular, notable fixture.
An England shirt worn during the 1966 World Cup by the late Bobby Charlton just raised £60,000 in a sale held just after the player’s death. Messi’s 21st-Century fame – like the reach of football – is on another level, and a record sale on December 14 will only confirm that.
