Messi's World Cup Shirts Sell for $7.8 Million
Six soccer shirts worn by Lionel Messi when he was playing for Argentina at last year's World Cup have been sold for $7.8 million, the auction house Sotheby's announced.
Messi helped his country win the FIFA World Cup in Qatar last December.
The final price for the shirts, each worn during the first half of one of Argentina's games, is the highest price for an item of sports memorabilia this year, Sotheby's said.
All six shirts were sold together as part of the same set, so one bidder got them all.
Argentina defeated France in a penalty shootout after a 3-3 draw in the World Cup final, winning its third World Cup.
Messi, one of the sport's greatest ever players, scored two of Argentina's three goals against France.
The shirts were on display at Sotheby's in New York during the two-week online auction that ended on December 14.
No information about the winning bidder was given.
Sotheby's said that some of the money from the sale would be given to the UNICAS Project, led by a children's hospital in Barcelona with the support of the Leo Messi Foundation, to help children with rare diseases.
The 36-year-old Messi, who plays for Inter Miami in the US, spent 17 years in Barcelona. He has won the Ballon d'Or, which is given every year to the sport's top player, a record eight times.
Sotheby's had hoped that the Messi shirts might set an auction record for game-worn sports memorabilia, but that did not happen.
The record for a game-worn item of sports memorabilia is still Michael Jordan's 1998 NBA Finals jersey, which sold for $10.1 million at Sotheby's in New York last year.
