Hard Numbers

A ball that's about much more than sports

Will Fitzpatrick

One sports fan this weekend took home an important piece of soccer history: the ball Diego Maradona famously punched into the net with his left hand against England during the 1986 World Cup. The controversial “Hand of God” goal helped knock England out of the tournament, just four years after the two countries fought the Falklands War. It also cemented a fierce football rivalry that resurfaced at this year’s World Cup, when Argentina’s football association was fined more than $300,000 after players paraded a banner reading “the Falkland Islands (Malvinas) are Argentine.”

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