The world’s most infamous soccer ball has a new owner.The Adidas Azteca ball Diego Maradona used to score two of the most famous goals in soccer history during Argentina’s famous 2-1 victory over England in the quarterfinals of the 1986 World Cup sold for $3.35 million at Heritage Auctions on Saturday night. The result fell well short of the $10 million estimate Heritage attached to the ball. The bidding had opened at $2.5 million.The Dallas-based auction house described the photo-matched ball as potentially “the most famous ball in the history” of any sport and had hoped it might become the most expensive piece of soccer memorabilia ever sold.Before the auction, Heritage officials had suggested the ball could command a price comparable to Maradona’s shirt from the same game, which sold at Sotheby’s in 2022 for just under $9.3 million, setting what was then a record for sports memorabilia before a 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle baseball card sold for $12.6 million later that year. Now the record is held by a New York Yankees jersey worn by Babe Ruth during the 1932 World Series, which sold for $24.12 million through Heritage in 2024.Maradona’s 1986 "Hand of God" ball auctions for $10 millionAsli Pelit and Rachael TindeThe Hand of God ball’s $3.35 million price tag is also lower than Shohei Ohtani’s 50th home run ball from his historic 2024 season, which sold for $4.392 million at auction, a record for a ball of any kind. That ball, which made Ohtani the first player in MLB history to reach 50 home runs and 50 stolen bases in a season, surpassed the previous record of $3 million paid for Mark McGwire’s 70th home run ball from 1998.