Three collections, half a century of international football history, and Maradona’s shirt sold for €520,000: MAG rewrites the history of sports memorabilia.
Just days before Europe’s most prestigious final, the UEFA Champions League, and three weeks ahead of the FIFA World Cup, the “Football” sale organised by Millon on 23 May in Paris at Salle VV, opposite the Hôtel Drouot, brought together more than 310 lots from the collections of Maxime Bossis and Jean-Marie Pfaff, enriched by a historic selection curated by Group expert Jean-Marc Leynet.
The result was remarkable: over €1.3 million (including buyer’s premium), an all-time record for a football-dedicated auction in continental Europe. This milestone marks a turning point for the market and establishes MAG (Millon Auction Group) as one of the most influential platforms in the European sector. Maxime Bossis and Jean-Marie Pfaff, both present in the saleroom, met again almost forty years after the 1986 FIFA World Cup third-place play-off in Puebla: a symbolic image spanning half a century of football history and placing Paris at the centre of the global sports memorabilia market.
From left to right: Jean-Marie Pfaff and Maxime Bossis.
The undisputed star of the sale was the number 10 shirt worn by Diego Armando Maradona during the 1986 FIFA World Cup semi-final between Argentina and Belgium, which sold for €520,000. This represents a French record for a football shirt and one of the most iconic results ever achieved in the sector. The piece came directly from Jean-Marie Pfaff’s collection — he personally received it from Maradona at the end of the match — and carries a unique story. Having appeared unsuccessfully on the market years ago, it this time sparked a lengthy bidding battle between the room and online participants, culminating in an intense contest before the final hammer price. The Pfaff Collection further confirmed its importance with another outstanding result: the exceptionally rare Johan Cruyff shirt received in 1976 during the Belgian goalkeeper’s debut for his national team. Estimated at €30,000–40,000, it sold for €169,000, setting a new public record for memorabilia linked to the Dutch legend.
Lot 264
Diego Maradona
Argentina national team shirt no. 10 worn during the second half of the 1986 FIFA World Cup semi-final against Belgium on 25 June at the Estadio Azteca in Mexico City.
Sold € 520.000
Lot 226
Johan Cruyff
Netherlands national team shirt no. 9 worn during the second leg of the UEFA Euro 1976 qualifying play-off against Belgium on 22 May 1976 at the Heysel Stadium in Brussels.
Sold € 169.000
Among the most significant results of the sale was the red goalkeeper shirt worn by Germany’s Harald Schumacher during the 1982 World Cup semi-final in Seville, associated with the infamous “unpunished by the referee” collision with French player Patrick Battiston. It sold for €45,500, almost three times its initial estimate.
Lot 145
Harald Schumacher
West Germany national team shirt no. 1 worn during the 1982 FIFA World Cup semi-final in Spain against France on 8 July 1982 at the Sánchez Pizjuán Stadium in Seville.
Sold € 45.500
The Maxime Bossis Collection, meanwhile, told another chapter of world football history: that of the great international clashes of the 1970s and 1980s, between Michel Platini’s France and the national teams that defined an era.
The catalogue spanned more than half a century of football history: from original player lists from matches at the 1930 FIFA World Cup to memorabilia from France 1998, including FIFA accreditations, official match balls, medals and commemorative trophies.
Behind this success stands the pioneering and tireless work of Jean-Marc Leynet, one of the world’s leading experts in sports memorabilia. For more than twenty-five years he has believed in the historical and cultural value of sports memorabilia and has championed the creation of a market founded on authenticity, rigour and the historical significance of each piece.
This vision is shared by Alexandre Millon, President of Millon Auction Group, who together with his leading expert has transformed the Sports department into a benchmark for the industry: “This sale demonstrates that the European sports memorabilia market has reached a new dimension. With MAG we have brought together international expertise, experience and the ability to attract the continent’s greatest private collections. Today, the European sports market comes to us first.” In recent years, thanks to the expertise and network of Jean-Marc Leynet, MAG has built a specialist network across France, Italy, Belgium, Spain, Switzerland and Germany, earning the trust of former athletes, collectors and institutions alike.
In 2025, the Sports department also launched at Il Ponte Casa d’Aste in Milan, again led by Leynet together with Matteo Melodia. This synergy, also evident during this sale, made it possible to present at auction highly significant pieces for the history of Italian football, including the official match ball from the 1982 FIFA World Cup Final between Italy and West Germany (€42,900), from the collection of footballer Antonio Cabrini, who personally retrieved it at the end of the match.
Lot 146
1982 FIFA World Cup
Official match ball used during the 1982 FIFA World Cup Final in Spain between Italy and West Germany on 11 July 1982 at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium in Madrid.
Sold € 42.900
The two experts are already working intensively on the preparation of a new single-catalogue auction to be held simultaneously in Milan and Paris. A project with strong symbolic and strategic significance, further consolidating the role of France and Italy as central hubs in the European geography of the sports memorabilia market.
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