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The sale is the best record in Brazilian football, but it is far from the most expensive game to be named.
Published on 17 Jul 2026
The shirt worn by Brazilian soccer star Pele when he scored two goals to win his team’s World Cup final in 1958 has sold for $4.9m.
Sotheby’s, the auction house that facilitated the sale, said on Thursday that the shirt has become the most expensive piece of Pele memorabilia ever sold.
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The shirts received 10 bids from more than five bidders at the auction in New York.
It is very important because of the sports that the Brazilians wore.
‘These shirts were there’ in 1958
Pele, who died in 2022, was 17 when he scored twice in Brazil’s 5-2 victory over hosts Sweden in the final.
He was, and remains, the youngest player to play in a World Cup final. The match gave Brazil its first World Cup victory.
Pele, whose real name was Edson Arantes do Nascimento, became one of Brazil’s – and the world’s – most famous players.
Photos from the 1958 World Cup final have become “some of the most photographed in the history of the sport”, Sotheby’s said, adding: “These shirts were there.”
The shirt was previously sold at auction in 2004 for 70,505 pounds ($105,600), according to Sotheby’s.
Although Pele’s shirt is very expensive, it is not like the sports memorabilia that has been sold before. The prize goes to the baseball jersey worn by the legendary Babe Ruth in the 1932 World Series, which sold for $24.1m in 2024.
Other high-priced items include basketball player Michael Jordan’s 1998 NBA Finals jersey, which sold for $10.1m, and a soccer jersey worn by Argentine soccer player Diego Maradona in the 1986 World Cup quarterfinal against England, which sold for $9.2m, according to auctioneer Bonhams.
