Six jerseys of Argentina national team forward Lionel Messi from the 2022 World Cup in Qatar went under the hammer in New York for $7.8 million, the official auction website reported on December 14 Sotheby's.
The shirts worn by Messi in last year's championship have become the most expensive sports memorabilia in 2023, writes “Sport Express”.
“The T-shirts that Messi wore to matches are artifacts of his legacy. They symbolize the peak of Messi's career, filled with work and passion for the game. These T-shirts will serve as a reminder of the greatness of Messi and the mark he left on the history of football,” reads the lot description.
The auction organizers hoped to set a new record for the price of sports items in the history of Sotheby's, but the Messi jerseys failed to surpass the result set by the sale of Michael Jordan's jersey from the 1998 NBA finals, which was auctioned in 2022 for €9.1 million.
In January this year, a businessman from Saudi Arabia offered a record sum of €2.6 million at an auction for a ticket to a friendly match between Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. The ticket implied attendance at the award ceremony, as well as access to the players' locker room, where one could communicate with the athletes.
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