Pelé’s blue No. 10 shirt from the 1958 World Cup final is set to be auctioned online from June 29 to July 16, 2026, with an estimated value of about $6 million (£4.5 million) [1, 2]. The auction will be held by Sotheby’s, with a public exhibition of the shirt starting July 1 at their Breuer building in New York [2].
Pelé wore the shirt at age 17 during Brazil’s 5-2 victory over Sweden in the final, scoring two goals and becoming the youngest player ever to score in a World Cup final [1, 2]. The garment is regarded as one of the most valuable football artifacts, potentially becoming the second most expensive football jersey ever sold after Diego Maradona’s 1986 “Hand of God” shirt, which sold for $9.3 million [1].
The shirt was originally gifted by Pelé to his roommate and teammate Didi after the match. It remained with Didi’s family before being donated to a Brazilian museum and later sold at auction in London in 2004 for £59,000 [1, 2]. Brendan Hawkes, Sotheby’s vice president of sport strategy, said, “The shirt itself is in extraordinary condition for something that’s nearly 70 years old. It’s just a really vibrant blue colour with the Brazil yellow on the back” [1].
Brahm Wachter, head of Sotheby’s modern collectables, described the jersey as "the garment worn by one of the greatest footballers in history on the night his reign began" [2]. Pelé recalled in his autobiography that although some teammates thought wearing blue against Sweden was a bad omen, the team delegate turned it into a symbol of luck, linking it to the patron saint Nossa Senhora de Aparecida [1].
The previous highest football jersey sale was Lionel Messi shirts, which sold for $7.8 million in 2023 [1]. The auction for Pelé’s 1958 shirt aims to attract collectors worldwide eager to own a piece of football history.
