Pelé’s match-worn shirt from the 1958 World Cup final has sold for $4.88 million at a Sotheby’s auction in New York.
The final price, widely rounded to $4.9 million, is equivalent to approximately £3.6 million or DKK 32 million. It is a record for an individual item of Pelé memorabilia and the second-highest price paid at auction for a single football shirt.
The shirt attracted 10 bids from more than five prospective buyers before the online auction closed on Thursday.
The shirt that introduced Pelé to the world
Pelé wore the blue No. 10 shirt when Brazil defeated hosts Sweden 5-2 at Råsunda Stadium in Stockholm.
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The 17-year-old scored twice, first finding the net in the 55th minute before completing the victory with a header shortly before the final whistle. He remains the youngest player to appear and score in a World Cup final.
Brazil’s victory delivered the country’s first world title. Pelé later lifted the trophy again in 1962 and 1970, becoming the only player to win three men’s World Cups.
According to ESPN, the shirt was accompanied by documentation from SIA Photo Match conclusively connecting it to the final.
Value rises dramatically in 22 years
The same shirt had previously been sold at auction in 2004 for $105,600, or £70,505 at the exchange rate reported by Sotheby’s.
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Its latest price represents an increase of more than 4,500 per cent in dollar terms over 22 years, illustrating the rapid growth in the market for elite sports memorabilia.
“Today’s result is a powerful testament to the enduring legacy of one of the greatest footballers of all time,” Brendan Hawkes, Sotheby’s head of sports strategy and development, said in a statement.
Hawkes added that the shirt was connected to the moment that transformed Pelé into a global sporting icon.
From Pelé’s teammate to New York auction
The shirt’s documented history stretches back to the final itself.
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After the match, Pelé gave it to his Brazil teammate and roommate Didi. It remained with Didi’s family until 1993, when it was donated to the Museu dos Esportes Edvaldo Alves Santa Rosa in Brazil.
The museum later offered it at auction in London in 2004. It remained outside public view for more than two decades before appearing in Sotheby’s The Beautiful Game sale.
As described by The Guardian, the shirt was preserved in unusually strong condition despite being almost 70 years old.
Maradona shirt retains auction record
The highest price for a single football shirt remains the £7.14 million, approximately $9.28 million, paid in 2022 for Diego Maradona’s shirt from Argentina’s 1986 World Cup quarter-final against England.
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Maradona wore the shirt while scoring both the controversial “Hand of God” goal and the effort later voted FIFA’s Goal of the Century.
A collection of six shirts worn by Lionel Messi during Argentina’s 2022 World Cup triumph sold for $7.8 million in 2023. That was a higher total than the Pelé sale, but it involved six separate shirts rather than one.
Maradona, Messi and Beckham items also sold
Pelé’s shirt was the centrepiece of Sotheby’s The Beautiful Game auction, which included several other pieces of match-worn memorabilia.
Maradona’s captain’s armband from the 1986 World Cup sold for $512,000. The armband was photo-matched to Argentina’s quarter-final against England and the final against West Germany, with an apparent match also found for the round-of-16 victory over Uruguay.
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Messi’s first-half shirt from Barcelona’s extraordinary 6-1 Champions League victory over Paris Saint-Germain in 2017 fetched $217,600.
The shirt worn by David Beckham during his 50th England appearance, against Denmark at the 2002 World Cup, sold for $51,200.
For collectors, however, the main attraction was the shirt worn by a teenage Pelé on the night Brazil became world champions for the first time. Nearly seven decades later, the piece has set another record connected to football’s first global superstar.
