An autographed football jersey, auctioned spontaneously in Harare on Wednesday night, has set a new record as the most expensive club soccer jersey ever sold globally.
The jersey’s final bid surpassed the price of Pele’s legendary Brazil No. 10 jersey at auction and was valued at 6.4 times more than Cristiano Ronaldo’s No. 7 Manchester United jersey when it was sold.
Additionally, it fetched over ten times the amount paid for George Best’s Manchester United No. 7 jersey at auction.
This Adidas jersey, representing the newly promoted Premiership side Scottland and signed by the entire squad, was ultimately sold for an astonishing US$250,000.
The bidding war intensified, with one participant offering US$120,000 at one stage.
Brighton “Pan Jap” Ushendibaba, a ZIFA board member, momentarily appeared to have secured the prized jersey with a US$60,000 bid, sweetening the deal by offering a truck for the club’s media team.
However, the competition escalated as a counter-bid doubled his offer, and another bidder raised the stakes to US$120,000.
The auction, which began at US$5,000, peaked at a quarter of a million dollars, with ICM Communications Managing Director Denny Marandure emerging as the highest bidder.
ICM Communications, one of Scotland’s key sponsors, had previously pledged a US$1 million sponsorship package for the club in December.
Following the auction, the jersey was presented to Lieutenant General Anselem Sanyatwe, Commander of the Zimbabwe National Army, who was the guest of honour at the event unveiling Scottland’s new season kit.
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This transaction shattered multiple records:
- It is now the most expensive club football jersey ever sold.
- Among all football jerseys, including national team kits, it ranks as the most valuable outside those worn by iconic figures like Diego Maradona and Lionel Messi.
- It is the eighth most expensive football jersey ever auctioned.
Only the jersey worn by Maradona during Argentina’s historic 2-1 victory over England in the 1986 World Cup quarterfinal, famous for the ‘Hand of God’ goal, and six jerseys worn by Messi at the 2022 World Cup commanded higher prices.
Messi’s six jerseys were auctioned as a collection rather than individually.
Maradona’s 1986 World Cup jersey remains the priciest, having been sold for US$8.8 million at a Sotheby’s auction.
That single jersey exceeded the combined US$7.7 million spent on Messi’s six jerseys from the Qatar tournament, which averaged US$1.3 million per jersey.
Unlike the Maradona and Messi jerseys, which were worn in national team competitions, the Scotland jersey is a club jersey. Yet, its price still exceeded Pele’s iconic Brazil No. 10 jersey, which fetched US$198,185 at auction, by US$51,800.
Furthermore, it commanded:
- 2.7 times the price of England’s 1966 World Cup winner Geoff Hurst’s jersey, sold for US$115,825.
- 6.4 times the price of Ronaldo’s Manchester United jersey, which went for US$49,230.
- 8.71 times the price of Paul Gascoigne’s 1990 England World Cup jersey, which sold for US$36,202.
- 10.4 times the price of George Best’s Manchester United No. 7 jersey, which fetched US$30,294.
- 16.2 times the price of Eric Cantona’s Manchester United No. 7 jersey, which was auctioned for US$19,376.