A set of six Argentina jerseys worn by Lionel Messi during his his march to the 2022 FIFA World Cup championship in Qatar, sold at auction Thursday for $7.8 million.
The shirts were all worn by the Argentine captain during the first half of the Final victory over France, the Semi-final, Quarter-final, Round of 16, and two of the three Group Stage matches. They were brought to auction by US-based tech startup AC Momento, who in addition to their mobile app for sports fans, partners with high-profile athletes (including Messi) to help manage their match-worn memorabilia collections.
Sotheby’s opted to sell the game-worn jerseys as a lot rather than on an individual basis and as such, the final price represents the most valuable sports memorabilia auction listing this year and is a record for any Messi item.
The previous record for a match-worn Messi shirt at auction is the Barcelona shirt he wore in El Clásico in 2017, which sold for $450,000 in May 2022.
A portion of the proceeds from the auction will be donated to UNICAS Project, led by Sant Joan de Déu (SJD) Barcelona Children’s Hospital with the support of the Leo Messi Foundation, to meet the needs of children suffering from rare diseases.
The record for any non-trading card sports memorabilia remains $10.1 million attained for a 1998 NBA Finals jersey worn by Michael Jordan, which was also sold by Sotheby’s in September of last year. The Messi jerseys didn’t break the all-time soccer memorabilia record either. In May of last year, Diego Maradona’s “Hand of God” jersey from Argentina’s win in the 1986 World Cup, sold for $9.28 million.
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