Pelé's iconic No 10 Brazil shirt from the 1958 World Cup final is expected to fetch more than $6m (£4.5m) when it goes under the hammer at Sotheby's in New York next month. The 17-year-old wore the blue jersey as he scored two goals in Brazil's 5-2 victory over Sweden, securing the nation's first World Cup title.
If it reaches its estimate, the shirt would become the second most expensive single football artefact ever sold, behind only Diego Maradona's 'Hand of God' shirt from the 1986 World Cup, which sold for $9.3m in 2022. A collection of six Lionel Messi shirts from the 2022 World Cup went for $7.8m last year.
Brendan Hawkes, Sotheby's vice president of sport strategy, noted the shirt's remarkable condition. 'It's just a really vibrant blue colour with the Brazil yellow on the back,' he said. 'One of the things that struck me when I first handled it was how small it was. Pelé wasn't a very large man and he wore this shirt when he was 17.'
After the final, Pelé gave the shirt to his roommate Didi, and it remained in Didi's family until 1993, when it was donated to a museum in Brazil. The museum sold it at auction in London in 2004 for £59,000. The upcoming sale, closing on 16 July, is expected to net nearly 100 times that amount, reflecting the booming sports memorabilia market.
Pelé revealed in his autobiography that some teammates worried wearing blue against Sweden would be a 'bad omen', but the delegation head assured them it would be lucky, as it was the colour of Brazil's patron saint. The victory proved him right.
