The soccer with which Diego Maradona scored his well-known ‘hand of God’ objective at the 1986 World Cup has bought at public sale for £2.5m.

Maradona famously punched the ball previous goalkeeper Peter Shilton in Argentina’s 2-1 quarter-final win over England.

After the sport, he instructed reporters it had been scored “a little with the head of Maradona and a little with the hand of God”.

Maradona later scored what turned identified as the ‘objective of the century’ in the same sport, dribbling previous 5 England outfield gamers before slotting the ball previous Shilton.

Though it bought for $3.3m (£2.5m) at Heritage Auctions in the United States on Saturday, the ball had been expected to fetch nearer $10m (£7.3m).

Speaking to Reuters before the public sale, Mike Provenzale, a specialist auctioneer at Heritage, said: “It’s a true one-of-one item. Arguably the most significant soccer item that exists.”

Tunisian Ali Bin Nasser, who refereed the match in 1986, collected the Adidas Azteca ball at full-time and saved it for more than three many years.

In 2023, he signed a letter to confirm it was the only ball used during the match, which has also been confirmed by further impartial authentication.

Bin Nasser bought the ball in 2022 for $2.37m (£1.74m). Its new proprietor again put it up for public sale in 2023 though it did not promote as bids did not meet the minimal worth set.

The shirt worn by Maradona during the same match bought for £7.1m at public sale in 2022.