Match-worn Pelé shirt sells at auction for record price
The shirt worn by Pelé in the 1958 World Cup final has sold at auction for a record price.
The greats of football never stop breaking records, and Pelé is one of them. On Thursday, one of football’s most treasured pieces of history was sold for a record-breaking price: the Brazil shirt worn by the late Pelé during the 1958 FIFA World Cup final was sold at a Sotheby’s auction in New York for $4.9 million, setting a new record for memorabilia linked to the forward.
The blue No. 10 jersey was worn by a 17-year-old Pelé when Brazil beat tournament hosts Sweden 5-2 in Stockholm to lift the nation’s first World Cup and spark the legend associated with the nation. The teenager scored twice in the final, becoming the youngest player ever to find the net in a World Cup final, a record that still stands.
According to Sotheby’s, the auction attracted strong international interest, with multiple bidders competing before the price reached $4.9 million, eclipsing every previous piece of Pelé memorabilia sold at auction. “This shirt is not only a lasting reminder of one of the most important moments in football history, but is principally connected to the very moment that catapulted Pelé into a global sporting icon,” Sotheby’s head of sports strategy and development, Brendan Hawkes, said in a statement.
¡La historia del fútbol volvió a ponerse a la venta! 🇧🇷🤑
— TV Azteca Deportes (@AztecaDeportes) July 16, 2026
La camiseta número 10 que Pelé utilizó en la final del Mundial de Suecia 1958 fue subastada este 16 de julio por la casa Sotheby’s.
Con apenas 17 años, el brasileño marcó dos goles en la victoria 5-2 sobre el país… pic.twitter.com/TH9SIx43Fq
Maradona and Pelé items sold at auction: see the prices
“Ahead of the World Cup final this weekend, it feels especially fitting to see such strong enthusiasm for the shirt worn as Pelé scored both goals that day more than six decades ago.”
The shirt’s history extends away from the pitch, as well. Following the World Cup win, Pelé gifted it to teammate Dida; it later became part of a Brazilian sports museum collection before being sold at auction in 2004 for around $105,000.
Although it now holds the record for the most valuable item associated with Pelé, the jersey remains the second-most expensive football shirt ever sold. The all-time record is still held by Diego Maradona’s Argentina shirt from the 1986 World Cup quarterfinal against England, famously worn during both the “Hand of God” goal and the “Goal of the Century,” which sold for $9.3 million in 2022.
Curiously, the armband from that game also went at the very same Sotheby’s auction. Authenticated through photo-matching as the one he wore during the iconic quarterfinal against England, it sold for $512,000.
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