'Hand of God', Shirt of the Man: The Materiality of Diego Maradona

Abstract

Among the 'first eleven' items of interest in the National Football Museum, Manchester, UK is the football shirt worn by Diego Maradona (b. i960) in the 1986 FIFA World Cup quarter-final match between Argentina and England. This paper reflects upon the cultural significance of the shirt as a museum object. A discussion of the shirt's history, from its wearing at the 1986 match to its imminent reappearance in the National Football Museum's new location, leads to the conclusion that, above all, although it may be subject to differing symbolic interpretations, the shirt exists as a material object, the observation of which affords football aesthetes an appreciative reminder of Maradona's extraordinary artistry with a ball at his feet.