The Ballon d’Or received by Argentine star Diego Armando Maradona for being named the best player at the 1986 World Cup will be auctioned on June 6, in Paris, as reported by auction house Aguttes this Tuesday. The coveted object was lost for decades.
Aguttes estimates that the trophy will sell for “millions” due to its uniqueness. With Maradona at his peak, the Argentine team beat West Germany 3-2 in the final and won their second world championship. The star received the Ballon d’Or shortly after the tournament in Mexico, but the award soon disappeared.
The auction house gave its version of how the trophy disappeared and was found. According to Aguttes, the Ballon d’Or was stored at the Banco della Província, in Naples, from where it was stolen by local gangsters in 1989. It reappeared in 2016, when it was acquired in a lot from a private collection in Paris.
The house also guarantees that the object “was thoroughly investigated and authenticated as Diego Maradona’s Ballon d’Or trophy.” The Argentine star, who scored five goals in the tournament, one of them with his hand, in the quarter-finals against England, passed away in 2020, at the age of 60.
Source: Gazetaesportiva
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