They can sell for record prices at auction.
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Sotheby’s will auction the six shirts worn by Lionel Messi at last year’s World Cup, which he led his country Argentina to victory, next week.
The auction house expects the set to sell for a record price of more than $10 million, roughly HUF 3.46 billion, and the sale is expected to be the most valuable collection of sports memorabilia at auction.
The online bidding – together with the public exhibition – starts on November 30 and lasts until December 14. Part of the proceeds goes to a children’s hospital in Barcelona.
“The sale of these six T-shirts is a monumental event in the history of auctions” – said Brahm Wachter, Sotheby’s head of modern collections, CNN reported.
The most valuable game-worn sports relic so far is the jersey worn by American Michael Jordan in the 1998 NBA Finals, which sold for $10.1 million last September.
In football, the eight-time Ballon d’Or’s legendary compatriot Diego Maradona holds the top spot, whose t-shirt he wore in the 1986 World Cup was paid 9.3 million dollars in May of the previous year.
To date, the most expensive Messi jersey worn in a match was auctioned for $450,000: this was the piece he wore at the 2017 El Clásico, when his former team, FC Barcelona, fought a fierce battle with Real Madrid led by Cristiano Ronaldo. Lionel Messi decided the game in the last minute with the 500th goal of his career.
