Franz Beckenbauer's shirt from Germany's semi-final victory over the Soviet Union in the 1966 World Cup is coming to auction.
The classic number 4 shirt will sell at Hansons' Word Cup auction in the UK on June 30 with a £5,000 ($8,420) estimate.
 Der Kaiser’s shirt was still sweaty when he handed it over |
The item comes from retired English policeman Sergeant Walter Turner.
Turner was assigned the role of ensuring fans and autograph hunters were kept away from the German team while they were based at The Peveril of the Peak hotel in Ashbourne, Derbyshire.
The German team were grateful for Turner's efforts, and when the squad left for the final against England, a German player "tried to press some money into my hand", recalls Turner.
"But I refused and asked instead for his shirt. The team had just returned from a victorious meeting with the Russians, and I was handed a white shirt still warm and damp with sweat - it was Number 4, Beckenbauer's."
Beckenbauer's legendary status as one of the greats of the game, the fact he scored in the semi-final victory, and its timely appearance during this year's competition in Brazil, should ensure a strong price.
"The football shirt is a wonderful find since it was worn by one of Germany's greatest ever stars, Franz Beckenbauer, in the semi-final of the 1966 World Cup, and the story of how it came to be left in Derbyshire really is quite remarkable," commented Charles Hanson.
A Beckenbauer Germany shirt from an unspecified game of the 1974 World Cup sold for £800 ($1,346) in 2007.
The auction will also offer a signed Maradona shirt and several rare programmes.
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