Six of Messi's World Cup match-worn shirts sell for staggering £6.1m

Six of Lionel Messi's Argentina shirts from the 2022 World Cup have sold at a Sotheby's auction in New York for £6.1million. 

Inter Miami superstar Messi, 36, netted seven goals during the tournament in Qatar as Lionel Scaloni's side lifted the famous gold trophy a year ago by beating France on penalties. 

And a set of his match-worn jerseys donned during the group stage, quarter-finals, semi-finals and final fetched the staggering sum for sellers AC Momento, a US-based tech start-up. 

A portion of the proceeds from the auction will be donated to the UNICAS Project, led by Sant Joan de Deu (SJD) Barcelona Children's Hospital with the support of the Leo Messi Foundation, to meet the needs of children suffering from rare diseases.

Speaking before the shirts were sold, AC Momento founder and CEO John Brennan said: "As a longtime collector of match-worn football memorabilia, this is the kind of auction I dreamed about bringing to market when we started AC Momento. 

"The winner of this sale will enjoy a profound connection to the pinnacle moment in the career of the greatest player of all time and own the most important collection of football shirts from any single event in the history of the sport."

The previous record for a match-worn Messi shirt at auction was £353,000 for his Barcelona shirt from El Clasico in 2017, which sold in May 2022. 

But the current record for a game-worn item of football memorabilia is held by Diego Maradona's Hand of God shirt. 

The top, which Maradona wore as Argentina beat England 2-1 at the 1986 World Cup, sold for £7.1m at Sotheby's London in May 2022.