It was the ball involved in both Maradona’s famous “Hand of God” goal and, four minutes later, his famous solo “Goal of the Century” against England as he led Argentina to an iconic victory.
Tunisian referee Ali Bin Nasser kept the ball for 36 years and he sold it at auction in 2022 for around £2M ($2.37m).
The ball has now been resold for $3.35M (£2.5M) just 4 years later at Heritage Auctions in the United States where it had been expected to fetch $10M (£7.3M) as per the BBC.
In comparison, Maradona’s shirt from the same England game remains considerably more valuable, having sold for almost $9.3M in 2022.
The ball also failed to break the record for a sports ball as Shohei Ohtani’s 50th home-run ball sold for $4.392M in 2024.
However, it still becomes one of the most valuable sports collection items and is sure to grow in value over the next decade.
"When it came in, I worked at Heritage for 20 years and there's been a lot of items that when they arrived, they just shut down the whole department. This is on that list," Heritage production manager Mike Provenzale told The Athletic's back in July.
"It's an item so iconic, even people who don't know anything about soccer or know the event can realize the value behind the ball. Having it photo matched to both goals is just the cherry on top."
Speaking to Reuters before the auction, Provenzale said: "It's a true one-of-one item. Arguably the most significant soccer item that exists.”