Nottingham Forest hero Steve Hodge has sold his match-worn Diego Maradona 'Hand of God' shirt for over £7 million at auction.
Former Forest midfielder Hodge swapped shirts with the legendary Maradona after the 1986 World Cup quarter-final clash between England and Argentina in Mexico, and has owned it ever since, although the item has spent the last 20 years on loan at the National Football Museum in Manchester. Maradona – one of the greatest footballers of all time, who died in November 2020 at the age of 60 – famously scored two unforgettable goals in the match, including one assisted by the "Hand of God", as England were knocked out of the tournament.
Hodge let the shirt go under the hammer in a specialist auction, but the Forest hero was reported to have been subject to a dramatic plea from the Argentinian FA begging him not to sell the historic shirt. It is not known whether the Argentine delegation that travelled to England with hope of taking it back to the Maradona museum in Buenos Aires have been successful.
