PELE'S 1958 WORLD CUP SHIRT SELLS FOR $4.9M AT SOTHEBY'S

A shirt worn by Pele during the 1958 World Cup final sold for $4.9m (£3.6m) at a Sotheby's auction in New York. The sale received ten bids from more than five bidders. According to Sotheby's, this represents Pele's most valuable item of memorabilia sold at auction to date. The same shirt previously sold in 2004 for $105,600 (£70,505).

The shirt ranks as the second most valuable football jersey sold at auction globally, behind Diego Maradona's Argentina shirt from the 1986 World Cup, which sold for £7.1m in 2022. Pele scored twice in the 1958 final against Sweden as a 17-year-old, winning the first of his three World Cups. He holds the record for the youngest player to score in a World Cup final. Brendan Hawkes, Sotheby's head of sports strategy and development, said the result demonstrated "the enduring legacy of one of the greatest footballers of all time".

The auction, titled 'The Beautiful Game', sold additional football memorabilia on Thursday. Maradona's captain's armband from the 1986 World Cup sold for $512,000 (£380,000). A shirt worn by Lionel Messi during Barcelona's 6–1 Champions League comeback victory over Paris St-Germain in 2017 sold for $217,600 (£161,482). David Beckham's shirt from his 50th England cap at the 2002 World Cup sold for $51,200 (£37,996).