The sale price is a record for one of Brazil’s greatest soccer players, but it is far from the most expensive piece of sports memorabilia ever touted.
Published July 17, 2026
The shirt worn by Brazilian soccer icon Pele when he scored two goals to lead his team to victory in the 1958 World Cup final has sold for $4.9 million.
The auction house Sotheby’s, which brokered the sale, announced on Thursday that the shirt had become the most expensive piece of Pele memorabilia ever sold.
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The shirt received 10 bids from five or more bidders at an auction in New York.
It is especially valuable because it was worn by a Brazilian player in a match.
“This shirt was there” 1958
Pele, who died in 2022, was 17 when he scored twice in Brazil’s 5-2 final victory over hosts Sweden.
He was and remains the youngest player to score in a World Cup final. This match marked Brazil’s first victory in the World Cup.
Pele, whose real name was Edson Arantes do Nascimento, became one of the most iconic players in Brazil and in football as a whole.
Sotheby’s said footage from the 1958 World Cup final has become “some of the most recreated in the history of the sport”, adding: “This shirt was there.”
According to Sotheby’s, the shirt sold for 70,505 pounds (about $105,600) at auction in 2004.
Although expensive, Pele’s shirt is not the most expensive piece of sports memorabilia ever sold. The award went to a baseball jersey worn by legendary hitter Babe Ruth during the 1932 World Series, which sold for $24.1 million in 2024.
Other big-ticket items include basketball player Michael Jordan’s 1998 NBA Finals jersey, which sold for $10.1 million, and Argentine soccer player Diego Maradona’s soccer jersey, worn in the 1986 World Cup quarterfinals against England, which sold for $9.2 million, according to auction house Bonhams.
