The sale is a record for the Brazilian footballing great, but it is far from the most expensive piece of sporting memorabilia to be touted.
Published On 17 Jul 202617 Jul 2026
The shirt worn by Brazil football icon Pele when he scored two goals to bring his team to victory in the World Cup final of 1958 has sold for $4.9m.
Sotheby’s, the auction house that facilitated the sale, said on Thursday that the shirt has become the most expensive piece of Pele memorabilia ever sold.
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The shirt received 10 bids from more than five bidders in an auction in New York.
It is particularly valuable because of the game the Brazilian wore it in.
‘This shirt was there’ in 1958
Pele, who died in 2022, was 17 when he scored twice in Brazil’s 5-2 win over hosts Sweden in the final.
He was, and remains, the youngest player to score in a World Cup final. That game secured Brazil its first World Cup victory.
Pele, whose real name was Edson Arantes do Nascimento, went on to become one of Brazil’s – and the entire footballing world’s – most iconic players.
The images of the 1958 World Cup final have become “some of the most reproduced in the history of the sport”, Sotheby’s said, adding: “This shirt was there.”
The shirt had previously sold at auction in 2004 for 70,505 pounds ($105,600), according to Sotheby’s.
Football star Pele speaks with a group of journalists assembled by World Cup sponsor Mastercard in New York, on March 28, 1994 [File: Reuters]
While expensive, Pele’s shirt is not even nearly the most expensive piece of sporting memorabilia ever sold. That award goes to a baseball jersey worn by legendary batter Babe Ruth in the 1932 World Series, which sold for $24.1m in 2024.
Other high-value items include basketball player Michael Jordan’s 1998 NBA Finals jersey, which sold for $10.1m, and a football jersey worn by Argentinian footballer Diego Maradona during the 1986 World Cup quarterfinal against England, which sold for $9.2m, according to auctioneers Bonhams.