The 2026 FIFA World Cup is drawing to a close and it’s fair to say it’s been a mixed bag. The whiffs of corruption, the unwanted involvement of the US president, the poor treatment of the Iran team, the referees turned away by US border control – all of this has brought a sour note to a tournament that, on the field, has generally offered exciting football, intriguing narratives and several beautiful underdog stories.
All three host nations, Mexico, Canada and the United States, were dumped out at the round of 16, though Americans who are disappointed by the US team’s exit at the hands of a ruthless Belgium side can perhaps take consolation in some stellar performances at Sotheby’s New York, which this week concluded its ‘Beautiful Game’ auction. Among the lots on offer were shirts worn by players including Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, David Beckham and other assorted memorabilia, from the match ball used in the 1999 Champions League final to the captain’s armband worn by Diego Maradona during the infamous ‘Hand of God’ game at the 1986 World Cup, which sold for $512,000.
The most eye-catching item, however, was the shirt worn by Edson Arantes do Nascimento, better known as Pelé, in the 1958 World Cup final, in which the Brazil legend, then only 17 years old, scored twice in a 5–2 victory over Sweden, becoming the youngest ever player to score in a World Cup final – a record that still stands today. The shirt, which comes from the collection of an ‘important Pelé collector’, says Sotheby’s, sold for $4.9m, making it the second most valuable football shirt ever sold. Based on recent high-profile art auctions, that price puts Pelé somewhere in the ballpark of Joan Mitchell, Keith Haring, Gerhard Richter and the 17th-century Dutch floral painter Jan van Huysum, all of whom have had work sold for around $5m this year.
Pelé, who died in 2022, is one of those players, like Eric Cantona or Zinedine Zidane, who has transcended his on-the-field heroics and attained the status of mythical being. He is arguably closer to a work of art than an athlete, is the subject of some of the most spine-tingling sporting photography ever taken and was even given a starring role in John Huston’s film Escape to Victory (1981), in which he more than holds his own against co-stars Sylvester Stallone, Michael Caine and footballer Bobby Moore. One artist who certainly understood his appeal was Andy Warhol, who included Pelé in his Portraits of Athletes series of 1977. It’s not Warhol’s best work; the piece, made up of a screenprinted photo of Pelé heading the ball that Warhol then painted around in acrylic, is a little too smiley and colourful for your correspondent’s liking, and lacks the enigmatic quality that Pelé embodies. Still, the fact that he was the only footballer to be included in the series speaks volumes.
The record for the most valuable football shirt in history is still held by Maradona’s ‘Hand of God’ jersey, which sold for $9.3m in 2022. What does it say about us that the record is held by a shirt worn during perhaps the most high-profile instance of cheating in the history of the beautiful game? Humans will always be interested in scandal and football, much like the art world, will always have its share of grubby characters. But let’s celebrate the moments of pure joy it brings to millions – and the style icons of course. That’s the stuff that will really endure.
