A football jersey once worn by the icon and legend of football during a 1958 World Cup final, which brought victory to the South American nation, has been sold for $4.9 million. Pelé, who passed away in 2022, was just 17 years old when he scored twice in Brazil's 5-2 victory over hosts Sweden in the final of the World Cup.
Sotheby's, the auction house that facilitated the sale, said on Thursday that the shirt has become the most expensive piece of Pelé memorabilia ever sold.
The shirt received 10 bids from more than five bidders in a New York auction. The piece draws its value from the match for which it was worn.
"This shirt was there" in 1958.
Pelé was, and remains, the youngest player to score in a World Cup final. That game gave Brazil its first-ever World Cup victory. Pelé, whose real name was Edson Arantes do Nascimento, went on to become one of Brazil's — and the entire footballing world's — most iconic players.
The images of the 1958 World Cup final have been the most reproduced in the history of the sport, partially because of the advent of technology and television's prominence in the early 1950s.
The same shirt had previously sold for £70,505 ($105,600), according to Sotheby's. While expensive, Pelé's shirt is not even nearly the most expensive piece of sporting memorabilia ever sold. That award goes to a baseball jersey worn by legendary batter Babe Ruth in the 1932 World Series, which sold for $24.1m in 2024.
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