Auction house Sotheby’s announced on Tuesday that the number 10 jersey Pelé wore during Brazil’s 1958 World Cup final victory over Sweden will go to online auction from June 29 to July 16, 2026. The shirt carries a pre-sale estimate of over $6 million and will be exhibited publicly in New York beginning July 1. The sale is timed to coincide with the 2026 FIFA World Cup, now underway across the United States, Canada, and Mexico.
Pelé, then just 17 years old, scored two of Brazil’s five goals in the 1958 final against host nation Sweden. He remains the youngest player ever to score in a World Cup final. The two goals — one a chest control and flick over a Swedish defender, the other a late header — cemented a performance that football historians have since ranked among the greatest individual displays in World Cup history.
Brahm Wachter, head of Sotheby’s modern collectables, left no ambiguity about how the auction house views the item. “This is the garment worn by one of the greatest footballers in history on the night his reign began,” Wachter said in a statement.
How the shirt survived 68 years
The journey from the Råsunda Stadium in Stockholm to a Sotheby’s sale is itself a story worth telling. Pelé, who died at age 82 in December 2022 of colon cancer, gifted the handmade shirt after the final to his roommate and teammate, Dida. Dida’s family held on to it for decades before it was placed in a museum and eventually auctioned off in 2004, according to Sotheby’s. Its current owner, who has chosen to remain anonymous, acquired it that year.
The shirt is handmade — a detail that distinguishes it from the mass-produced kits that became standard in elite football decades later — and carries the number 10, the designation that Pelé made the most recognisable in the sport.
A market with appetite for football history
Sotheby’s said in a press release that the Number 10 jersey is estimated to sell for over $6 million in the auction, which runs from June 29 to July 16 — three days before this year’s final match.
That estimate places it in competitive territory with recent records in the sports memorabilia market. Diego Maradona’s “Hand of God” jersey sold for $9.3 million in 2022, a record for sports-worn memorabilia that was broken several months later by Michael Jordan’s “Last Dance” Bulls jersey, which went for $10.1 million.
The Pelé shirt will not be the only item of historical weight in the same sale. Other items up for auction in Sotheby’s special “The Beautiful Game” sale include an armband worn by Maradona during the 1986 “Hand of God” match and gear worn by Argentine superstar Lionel Messi.
Timed to the tournament
The auction’s overlap with the 2026 World Cup is deliberate. Pelé went on to win his third World Cup title in 1970 in Mexico, one of the three hosts of the tournament with the United States and Canada. The same Azteca Stadium that saw him as a champion back then will host the opening game of this year’s World Cup, with Mexico taking on South Africa. The convergence of the auction window with the tournament’s closing stages, ending three days before the final, places the sale at the peak of global football attention.
The auction period also includes a public exhibition starting July 1 at Sotheby’s Breuer building in New York. The exhibition gives collectors and the public an opportunity to view the shirt in person before online bidding closes.
Background
Pelé — born Edson Arantes do Nascimento in Três Corações, Brazil, in 1940 — was selected for the 1958 World Cup squad at 17, having impressed sufficiently in the Brazilian league to earn a place alongside established stars. The victory marked Brazil’s first of a record five World Cup titles, three of which were won under the man who would become known as “The King.” The 1958 final ended 5-2, with Pelé’s two goals contributing to what remains the most emphatic scoreline in World Cup final history. He died in December 2022 after a battle with colon cancer. The 2026 World Cup is the first to be held across three nations simultaneously and expands the tournament to 48 teams for the first time.
What happens next
Online bidding for the Sotheby’s “The Beautiful Game” sale opens June 29 and closes July 16, three days before the 2026 World Cup final. A public exhibition of the jersey begins July 1 at Sotheby’s Breuer building in New York. Sotheby’s has set the pre-sale estimate at over $6 million, though the final price will be determined by competitive bidding. The current owner has chosen to remain anonymous. No reserve price has been publicly disclosed by Sotheby’s.
