famous number 7
Portugal’s Ronaldo may wear his famous number 7 in his fifth World Cup, but he wore number 17 when he made his tournament debut in 2006, and the Almir brothers have one of theirs from the third-place playoff against Germany in their exhibition. shirt. ,
“I have 150 match shirts now and I mainly focus on World Cup shirts and European Championship shirts,” says Esmael.
As indicated by the sale of Maradona’s “Hand of God” shirt from the 1986 World Cup to an anonymous buyer for £7.14 million, rarities can be worth a lot, and collectors need to be wary of counterfeits on the market .
Irish sports expert Barry Rojack said: “Alan Ball’s shirt from the 1966 World Cup final sold for £130,000 at auction this morning, and I expect the 2022 winning shirt from Argentina, England or Brazil to fetch between £100,000 and £200,000.” Will come.” the museum told Reuters.
Esmael says the most valuable item he has is his 1978 World Cup winner’s medal and that he buys most of his shirts through a company in the United Kingdom.
“The owner is a trusted and reliable salesman who buys from retired footballers and then helps collectors build up their match-worn shirt collections,” he said.
Esmael got a surprise at the start of the exhibition when visitor Alex Tobin pointed out a very rare Australia shirt that had been worn in a game against Sweden in 1996 – and told the collector that he had worn it while playing centre-back for Australia. Was wearing a shirt. in that game.
Esmael said with a note of incredulity, “I didn’t even know when I met him, he’s such a humble man.”
“We had visitors from all over the world to our exhibition, and it was a pleasant experience that I will never forget,” he said.