It’s the world’s game.
It’s the beautiful game.
Increasingly it’s a game for everyone - men, women, children…
And collecting football memorabilia is a growing hobby that millions enjoy in some form or another.
The Argentina number 10, perhaps the most famous shirt in world football history. Image courtesy of Sotheby's.
Here are 10 questions to help you get even more out of your passion for football.
Or soccer if you prefer.
What is good football memorabilia to collect?
What do you love?
That, to me, is always the best way to collect.
And what do you want from your collection?
Do you want something to put on your walls?
Would you like to pass on valuable items to your children?
Are you interested in telling a personal or historical story?
All of them different.
For your walls, look at shirts, tickets, pictures and portraits.
And shirts, signed shirts, will give you the best returns on recent evidence.
For historical enthusiasts look for programmes, tickets, fanzines, news coverage…
What a wonderful collection of signatures this is, capturing one of the defining moments not just of English football but of England in the 1960s.
While I’m sure we’re all lovers of the game who dutifully say, “let the best team win” at the start of every game we watch, most of us will collect around a club or national team that we follow.
Perhaps an individual player.
Perhaps you can’t help the team or national side you follow, but you’ll face more competition for rarities and have a larger market into which to sell among the most popular clubs: Manchester United, Barcelona, Liverpool, Real Madrid, PSG, Juventus.
Players too. Beckham, Messi, Ronaldo, Pele….
10 is the magic number, and the name "Lionel Messi" helps too.
Is football memorabilia worth anything?
Some is. Much isn’t.
What makes the difference?
It’s the same as in every category of memorabilia and collectible:
What is the item?
With whom or what is it associated?
Is it signed?
How strong is its provenance and proof of authenticity?
What is the demand for it?
What is its quality?
What is its condition.
Let’s look at those with regards to one of the most famous and valuable football items of all time:
The £7 million shirt is worth so much because of the story it tells. Image courtesy of Sotheby's.
The Hand of God shirt:
What is it?
An Argentina shirt from 1986, worn during the World Cup quarter final.
With whom or what is it associated?
Diego Maradona wore this number 10 shirt.
He wore it while scoring one of the most controversial goals in world cup history, a handball. After the game Maradona answered a question about the scoring of the goal by saying it was: “a little with the head of Maradona, and a little with the hand of God.”
Bang. There’s the legend.
Is it signed?
This shirt is not signed.
It’s arguable that a signature in this case would not have added a great deal of value once the proof of the shirt’s story was secured.
How strong is its provenance and proof of authenticity?
The shirt was sold by a player who was on the pitch at the same time, and who swapped his England shirt for Maradona’s 10.
Steve Hodge, the Nottingham Forest and Leeds United, midfielder held onto the shirt since that disappointing 2 - 1 loss and reaped the reward decades later.
The modern art of photomatching helped prove the shirt was the one. Image courtesy of Sotheby's.
What is the demand for it?
No question here, there is enormous demand for this shirt from people with plenty of money.
Maradona is arguably the greatest player of all time, and probably the greatest personality in the game.
Argentina is one of the great football nations.
It was a great game, illuminated by a brilliant, legitimate goal, and then somewhat tarnished by the Hand of God.
When he died in 2020, Maradona was honoured with three days of official national mourning and a state funeral.
What is its quality?
As a garment it’s probably pretty good.
It was made by Le Coq Sportif for the Argentina national squad so you would expect it to be at the top end of their production.
As an item it’s peerless. An absolutely iconic piece of football history. Probably unmatchable.
What is its condition?
Hodge had the shirt, but he loaned it to the UK National Football Museum in Manchester where it was on display for 20 years.
That meant state-of-the-art conservation and display methods.
It had stood up extremely well.
So, that one item brings everything to the party, and thus we have a £7-million sale.
You can look at any piece of football memorabilia through this sort of lens.
Of course, when you’re shopping for yourself, you should ask, what does it mean to me.
A boot signed by perhaps the greatest ever player is a memento every football fan would treasure.
Where can I get football memorabilia valued?
Valuing any collectible is somewhat difficult.
It is not a science.
Memorabilia sells in fairly open and fluid markets and often by auction.
The best way to get a value for it is to sell it.
In the meantime you might look at similar items.
And seek out expert advice from people who are active in the market.
This bible owned by Manchester United's world cup winner Bobby Charlton is an unusual artefact and difficult to value.
Some may charge a fee for valuations.
Value will be enhanced by any information you have on an item. When you buy memorabilia make sure you get as much information and documentation as possible to show exactly what it is.
This might even mean asking people to sign statements affirming an item’s authenticity and history. Don’t be shy about doing that.
Preserve everything.
How do I start collecting football memorabilia?
Very easily.
But also cautiously.
You’re shopping for items that rely on being a specific thing for the vast majority of their value.
Alan Ball starring for England, this is a great example of a very classic signed photo, perhaps not the rarest thing in the world but hugely meaningful to the right person.
You don’t need to be paranoid here, but do take appropriate precautions and if you’re spending a lot of money look for respected, established dealers and good buyer protections.
Otherwise, the internet is your oyster.
Is collecting sports memorabilia worth it?
This is a question only you can answer.
If you’d like an engaging, engrossing hobby that celebrates your love of a wonderful sport…
It’s hard to miss to be honest.
As to return on investment.
That’s a little harder.
A set of 1930s Glasgow Rangers FC signatures. A hugely rare collection that shouldn't be given to a Celtic fan.
But, there’s certainly been an explosion in prices at the top end of the sporting memorabilia market in recent years.
Last year, a Babe Ruth baseball shirt - like the Maradona jersey linked to a particular incident, “the called shot”
It went for $24 million.
There’s a lot of money coming in to the market.
And football is a global game in the way that baseball isn’t.
Saudi leagues are buying up the best players. Will the collectibles market also tilt that way?
It’s perfectly possible.
But buy for yourself first and foremost, Look for good quality, rare, good condition items. Invest a little time and effort into knowing how to look after them.
And you may cash in.
What to do with football memorabilia?
Display it.
That’s the obvious answer.
But, display it securely and safely.
This shirt demands to be carefully framed and shown off, ideally in public.
We have a number of articles about safe storage and display on the site.
The long and the short of it are that water and light are bad news, as are extremes of temperature.
That applies pretty broadly whether you’re storing photographs, papers, shirts.
Trophies and medals too should be stored carefully.
And present things well.
And, again, we have lots of advice on how to do that safely and securely.
Buying football memorabilia today
If you don’t know where to start, we are the world’s largest dealer in rare collectibles.
We almost always have some football items in stock.
