Do you still remember December 18, 2022? It was the final of the never undisputed 2022 World Cup in Qatar with Argentina against France (4:2 n.E. / 3:3 n.V.). A game that ultimately captivated everyone in a World Cup that was first-class in terms of football and that went down in history as one of the best World Cup finals of all time. With the coronation for football star Lionel Messi (36) and Argentina. The Fussballdaten.de portal looks at striking figures from the world champion in the “year after”.
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Enzo Fernández
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New York, December 2023. Just over a year after Argentina’s World Cup triumph in Qatar, the auction house Sotheby’s put six of the seven jerseys that Lionel Messi (36, now Inter Miami FC) wore during the World Cup in the Gulf under the hammer.
- They grossed $7.8 million.
$7.8 million
This is reported by the Wiener Kronen-Zeitung (Sunday edition), among others.
With this sum, the Messi World Cup jerseys just missed the value of the jersey that Argentina’s football idol Diego Armando Maradona (1960 – 2020) wore with his legendary hand in the 1986 World Cup quarter-final against England (2-1) in Mexico City -hit (Maradona: “It was the hand of God”).
- The Maradona jersey brought in $9.28 million in May 2022.
- The highest value for a shirt verifiably worn by an athlete was $10.1 million, which was paid in September 2022 for basketball legend Michael “Air” Jordan’s finals jersey from the 1998 NBA Finals (Game 1).
- The price at Sotheby’s has so far been $450,000 for a Messi jersey – for a shirt from “El Clasico” with FC Barcelona from 2017.
- Lionel Messi led Argentina in Qatar to their third World Cup triumph after 1978 and 1986 and crowned his fabulous career in his 26th (and probably last) World Cup game (record).
5 out of 6
Since then, Argentina has been able to continue its successful run.
- The world champion won 5 of his 6 qualifying games for the 2026 World Cup finals in the USA, Canada and Mexico.
- The most important victory was of course the 1-0 win in the “Superclasico” against record world champions Brazil on November 22, 2023 in Rio de Janeiro (Fussballdaten.de reported).
- Messi’s world champion colleague Enzo Fernandez became the most expensive transfer in the English Premier League with his move from Benfica Lisbon to Chelsea on January 31, 2023 with a transfer fee of 121 million euros.
- South American arch-rivals Uruguay and Liverpool star Darwin Nunez stopped Argentina’s 14-game run with a 2-0 win in Buenos Aires on November 17, 2023.
100 percent of Argentines now Messi fans?
Of course, this doesn’t change the success story that Messi and Co. wrote in the desert in 2022 and which was recently released in Argentine cinemas under the title Muchachos.
“I have had many successes in my career,” said Messi in the TV documentary World Champion – One Year Later, “but only now, by winning the World Cup final, does the whole of Argentina love me. Maybe it’s 95 percent, maybe even 100 percent of people.”
Possible! “Until December 18, 2022,” the Krone adds, “the relationship between Argentine fans and Messi, who moved to Europe early on, was rather divided.”
2023-12-18 11:36:57
#year #Qatar #Lionel #Messi #numbers
