Pelé's 1958 World Cup final shirt sells for $4.9m, second-highest ever for soccer jersey

The late Pelé's jersey from the 1958 World Cup final has sold at auction for a record sum.

Reuters reported Friday that the shirt Pelé wore in the 1958 FIFA World Cup final in Sweden sold at a Sotheby's auction for $4.9 million, the highest price ever fetched by any item from Pelé's personal collection.

The jersey is a symbolic piece of memorabilia from the moment Pelé announced himself as the unrivaled king of football.

Just 17 years old at the time, Pelé scored twice against host nation Sweden in the final to lead Brazil to its first World Cup title. His records as the youngest player to appear in and score in a World Cup final have stood for nearly 70 years. The shirt's value was further elevated by its place at the very start of a legend — Pelé went on to win three World Cups before his death in December 2022 at the age of 82.

The jersey's provenance is well documented. Immediately after the final, Pelé gave the shirt to his teammate Dida. Dida's family kept it for many years before donating it to a sports museum in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The museum consigned it to a Christie's auction in 2004, where it sold for $105,600. According to Sotheby's, more than five bidders competed for the shirt in this latest sale, with 10 rounds of bidding before it found a new owner.

The sale price is the second highest ever recorded for a soccer jersey at auction. The all-time record belongs to fellow football legend Diego Maradona of Argentina, whose shirt from the "Hand of God" goal against England in the quarterfinals of the 1986 Mexico World Cup sold for $9.28 million at auction in 2022.

Also offered at the same Sotheby's sale was the Argentina captain's armband Maradona wore during the 1986 World Cup-winning campaign, which sold for $512,000.