Ali Bin Nasser Says He Would Not Have Given Maradona ‘Hand Of God’ Ball

SportsMoney Ali Bin Nasser Says He Would Not Have Given Maradona ‘Hand Of God’ Ball Asif Burhan Contributor Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own. I am a freelance journalist from England covering women’s soccer around the world since 2011. Following New! Follow this author to stay notified about their latest stories.

Got it! Nov 2, 2022, 03:00am EDT | New! Click on the conversation bubble to join the conversation Got it! Share to Facebook Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin Argentina captain Diego Maradona (l) shakes hands with England captain Peter Shilton (r) as referee . . .

[+] Ali Bennaceur (c) checks the match ball is fully inflated and linesman Morera Berny Ulloa (far l) looks on (Photo by Peter Robinson/EMPICS via Getty Images) PA Images via Getty Images The match ball from the 1986 FIFA World Cup quarter-final between Argentina and England is being auctioned by the Tunisian referee who claimed it at the end of the notorious game. He insisted that he would not have given it to the match-winner Diego Maradona had the player asked for it after the match. The iconic Adidas Azteca ball was used throughout the match won 2-1 by Argentina in Mexico City.

Every goal scored in the game has gone down in legend as a defining moment in World Cup history. The first was awarded despite the fact that Maradona punched the ball past England goalkeeper Peter Shilton, the so-called ‘Hand of God’. The second from Maradona was a mesmerizing dribble past five opposition players which is commonly referred to as ‘The Goal of the Century’.

Even England’s consolation goal scored by Gary Lineker was ultimately decisive as it won him the coveted Golden Boot as the tournament’s leading goalscorer ahead of Maradona, who went on to captain Argentina to victory in the final. MEXICO CITY, MEXICO – JUNE 22: Argentina player Diego Maradona outjumps England goalkeeper Peter . .

. [+] Shilton to score with his ‘Hand of God’ goal as England defenders Kenny Sansom (top) Gary Stevens (c) and Terry Fenwick look on during the 1986 FIFA World Cup Quarter Final at the Azteca Stadium on June 22, 1986 in Mexico City, Mexico. (Photo by Allsport/Getty Images) Getty Images The referee who failed to spot the Maradona handball which turned the game, Ali Bin Nasser (also known as Ali Bennaceur), was elected to take charge of the match by the world governing body FIFA.

Just four years after The Falklands War, the choice of any English-speaking, European or South American referee risked sparking accusations of bias. Having officiating at an unprecedented two consecutive finals at the Africa Cup of Nations as well as the politically sensitive 1985 under-20 World Cup quarter-final between the Soviet Union and China, the French and Arabic-speaking Bin Nasser believes FIFA considered him as a safe choice for such a potentially volatile game. Speaking to me from his home in Tunis, Bin Nasser said, “I was an honest referee and I did the best I can.

” MORE FOR YOU The ‘Backsies’ Billionaire: Texan Builds Second Fortune From Wreckage Of Real Estate Empire He’d Sold Beyond Dashboards: The Future Of Analytics And Business Intelligence? Tensions Rise As Both North And South Korea Carry Out Missile Launches Bin Nasser dismisses the fact that not being able to speak English or Spanish hindered his ability to communicate with the England and Argentina players during that match. “In football, the only language we need to speak is from the whistle, the flags of my colleagues and the red and yellow cards. I don’t speak English, but the two words I know is ‘advantage’ and ‘play’.

They were the only two words you would hear me say during the game. That’s how I refereed that game, and any game in which I don’t speak the language. ” When Maradona punched the ball in for the disputed first goal, Bin Nasser insists he ceded the responsibility of making the decision to his linesman, Bulgarian Bogdan Dotchev, who was in line with the play.

He explained, “FIFA’s instruction before the tournament was that if you did not see an incident clearly, you should take the opinion of your colleague if he was in a better position. I didn’t see the goal but I was going back to the center backwards and I was looking at my colleague the whole time. When he meet me at the halfway line, then it was a goal.

He had a better view than me at that time. ” Dotchev, who died in 2017, has an entirely different view of the incident. Speaking to the Bulgarian media in 2013 he admitted that “the ghost of this match will probably haunt me to the grave.

. . Refereeing was different then, the rules were different.

Linesmen didn’t have the powers they have now to disallow goals, call fouls for cards etc. I had no right to influence the leader. All power on the field was concentrated in the hands of the head referee.

Bin Nasser knew only his native French. I speak German and Spanish. As soon as he signals that everything is fine, what can I do? It wasn’t until he started walking with his back to the center that I started too.

” Dochev and the other two officials working on the game, Berny Ulloa from Costa Rica and Idrissa Traoré from Mali, all signed the ball which was kept by Bin Nasser at his Tunisian home for over three decades. When the shirt worn by Maradona during the second half of the game was auctioned in May by Sotheby’s for a then world-record price of $8. 96 million, the 78-year-old Bin Nasser began contacting auction houses about the possibility of selling the ball touched by Maradona’s genius.

The English-based auctioneers Graham Budd Auctions Ltd. have made the ball the star exhibit among over 300 pieces of World Cup memorabilia currently available for sale by online bidding . Their estimate on the ball, which has deflated over time and can’t be re-inflated for fear of damaging the interior lining, is between $2.

8-3. 4 million. Graham Budd poses with the match ball used in the 1986 FIFA World Cup Quarter-Final football match .

. . [+] between Argentina and England, played at the Estadio Azteca, Mexico City, during a photocall ahead of its auction, at Wembley Stadium in London on November 1, 2022.

– The ball that Diego Maradona used to score his infamous “Hand of God” World Cup goal for Argentina against England in 1986 will go under the hammer on November 16, and could fetch up to £3 million. The 1986 quarter-final between Argentina and England saw a heated build-up because of political tensions following the Falklands war and came to be defined by two contrasting goals scored by the late Maradona. (Photo by ISABEL INFANTES / AFP) (Photo by ISABEL INFANTES/AFP via Getty Images) AFP via Getty Images As the match-winner in such a high-profile game, Maradona would have been entitled to ask for the ball as a souvenir of his performance but Bin Nasser is adamant he would not have relinquished it to the player who is revered throughout the world as one of the greatest athletes to grace any sport.

Bin Nasser told me, “FIFA gave very strict instructions to the referees regarding the match-ball, the referee got to keep the ball. After the game, I got my colleagues to sign it for me so I could keep it as a souvenir of the game. That was the pinnacle of my career.

I kept it for 36 years and four months so, to answer your question, I would not have given him the ball as FIFA instructed me to keep the ball. ” In August 2015, Maradona visited Bin Nasser at his home in Tunisia and revealed in his 2017 book, Touched By God: How We Won the Mexico ’86 World Cup , that he asked the referee to sign a photo of him holding the ball as the two captains shook hands ahead of the game, a picture which Maradona kept in his personal gym. Tunisian referee Ali Bin Nasser poses at home in the capital Tunis on November 27, 2020, with .

. . [+] pictures of him with Diego Armando Maradona when he visited his home during a trip to Tunisia in 2015.

– The former referee who officiated the 1986 World Cup quarter-final in which Diego Maradona scored his famous double against England, hailed the Argentinian as a “genius” following his death on November 25, aged 60. (Photo by FETHI BELAID / AFP) (Photo by FETHI BELAID/AFP via Getty Images) AFP via Getty Images Bin Nasser revealed to me that he never had the opportunity to reunite Maradona with the ball with which he created sporting history, “it was in another room”, but he was full of admiration for the man. “He gave me an Argentina jersey and signed it ‘To Ali, my eternal friend’.

You see this genius on the field but he’s a totally different human being outside the field. He’s very humble. He was a warm person who loves poor people and loves his country.

” The ‘Hand of God’ ball is currently on auction until November 16. Follow me on Twitter . Check out my website .

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