The euphoria continues for Argentina’s victory at the World Cup in Qatar. This Thursday, the company Matchday Auctions Futbol auctioned aA Messi shirt signed by all the players and the coach of the national team for US$ 29,282. It was the “jewel” of an online event in which it was put up for sale on December 1st a total of 56 sporting goodsincluding the “famous number 10” of the team who managed to become champions after 36 years of frustration.
The online auction started two weeks before the start of the World Cup. Messi’s shirt was donated by the AFA to donate the proceeds to the Fernández Hospital Foundation. A base price of US$5,500 was set, but once the tournament ended, its price rose to almost US$30,000 just minutes before the fight ended. Other objects of high symbolic value were also auctioned, such as other Messi shirts, two of Maradona and a gold-plated replica of the World Cup, which sold for $9,000.
It’s a curiosity given that Messi’s shirt, the official Adidas one, sold out all over the world a few days before the grand final against France. In Argentina, finding Argentine shirts was an ordeal. The brand with the three stripes assures that the demand has exceeded them and that they have sold 55% more than in Russia 2018. Now they promise to release a new edition next Monday, with the 3 stars (for championships 78, 86 and 2022 ) and the golden logo with the words “Champions 2022 authorized by FIFA.
The organizing company, Matchday, was created during the pandemic by Yael Rodríguez, Emiliano Abreu and Juan Manuel Piñeiro, who implemented an electronic system to sell football clothing and items coveted by collectors or fans. For the most part, they explain from Matchday, they belong to relatives, ex-footballers and collectors from all over the world. The 10 of the Selection is the only one that has been sold for charity.
Moreover, there was another Barcelona Messi shirt from 2010, which had a base price of US$6,500, and many more from the likes of Ronaldinho and Neymar (Barcelona), Zanetti (Banfield), Zico (Flamengo), Tevez (Alternative Selection), Alonso (Velez) and Juan Carlos Lallana, from the River in 1967. They are also auctioning some Luis Suárez boots (US$650), a 2001 Libertadores champion Boca medal (US$350), an album from Uruguay’s 1930 World Cup (US$750 ).
They were 2 from Maradona: one from Boca del Nacional 1981 (which was sold) and another from Napoli, which he used in the 1986/87 season, when the Italian team was champion for the first time in its history. The latter, a rarity in this new world, remained vacant due to lack of interested parties. The online auction mechanism, a relatively recent business, is similar to that of major auction houses around the world, such as Sotheby’s and Christie’s. The price increases by 10% with each offer.
This is the second auction organized by Matchday. In the first, 35 pieces were sent which made it possible to complete a collection of US$ 9,700. The next one is scheduled for Q1 2023 and features a main course. Regard the shirt worn by the German Andreas Brehme, author of the only goal in the 1990 World Cup final, in Italy, against the Argentines of Maradona and Bilardo. will come out a base price of US $1.2 million. The garment came from a collector, who also handed over Argentinean Juan Simón’s shirt, which will initially cost between $7,000 and $10,000.
“Brehme authenticated the shirt himself when we showed it to him. He told us he didn’t have it and sent us a video to validate it,” Rodríguez enthuses. The two shirts, that of Brehme and that of Simón, were owned by an Argentine collector who waited for the Argentine delegation to return from Italy and who received them as a gift from one of its members.
Source: Clarin
