Diego Maradona’s heirs have initiated legal proceedings in France to halt the controversial sale of the Argentine football legend’s ‘Golden Ball’ trophy from the 1986 Mexico World Cup.
The trophy, awarded to the tournament’s best player, had been missing for many years before resurfacing in the possession of an antique dealer in Paris. Scheduled to be auctioned by Aguttes auction house in Neuilly-sur-Seine near Paris on June 6, the sale has been met with opposition from Maradona’s family lawyers, who argue that this significant piece of memorabilia from the player’s illustrious career rightfully belongs to his five heirs.
In 2022, Maradona’s Argentina jersey from the 1986 tournament fetched close to $9.3 million at auction, while the infamous “Hand of God” ball from the quarter-final against England sold for $2.4 million later that year.
The Maradona family contends that the trophy, presented to their father in November 1986 at the Lido Cabaret in Paris, was stolen during a bank robbery three years later in Naples. They claim to have only recently learned of the impending auction and have promptly taken legal action in an attempt to reclaim it.
“The family aims to recover this ball, the Argentine people want to recover this ball,” lawyer Lola Chunet told a court in Nanterre, outside Paris.
Lawyer Arthur Gaulier, representing Aguttes, contended that attempting to claim ownership of the trophy 35 years after an alleged theft, without ever having filed a complaint, is an opportunistic approach that justice cannot endorse.
Additionally, lawyers for the auction house and the trophy seller asserted on Thursday that the Maradona family had not provided evidence of a complaint filed at the time of the alleged theft.
Maximilien Aguttes, director of the auction house, added that one circulating “legend” about the award was that Maradona forgot it at the Lido the evening it was presented. Furthermore, the antique dealer who obtained the trophy mentioned that he purchased it at an auction in 2016, bundled with hundreds of other trophies, most of which held little value.
“He bought them for 500 euros excluding fees,” detailed the seller’s lawyer Marine Le Bihan, at a price which valued each trophy at 1.20 euros, before realising that one could be Maradona’s “Golden Ball”.
During his research to prove its authenticity, he contacted one of the footballer’s lawyers, insisted Le Bihan.
The court will decide on May 30 whether the sale can take place.
At the same time, a criminal complaint was filed, the prosecution confirmed to AFP.
The trophy has nothing to do with the ‘Ballon d’Or’ awarded by France Football magazine to the best player of the year.
