Maradona’s heirs search to forestall public sale of a golden ball

Nanterre. The heirs of Diego Armando Maradona requested that the sale deliberate in June of a “golden ball” obtained by the Argentine star in 1986 as the very best participant within the World Cup in Mexico and with a weird historical past be stopped.

The Aguttes public sale home plans to promote on June 6 this trophy that Maradona obtained throughout a ceremony on the Parisian Lido cabaret in 1986 and whose existence an antiques seller would have found.

In accordance with the 5 heirs, the award was stolen in 1989 throughout a financial institution theft in Naples, an Italian metropolis that venerates the Argentine soccer participant who died in November 2020.

The heirs’ attorneys, who found the deliberate sale in Neuilly-sur-Seine, a rich suburb of Paris, just a few weeks in the past, turned to court docket to recuperate the prize.

“The household desires to recuperate this ball, the Argentine folks wish to recuperate this ball,” mentioned Lola Chunet, one of many household’s attorneys, earlier than the court docket of justice in Nanterre, west of the capital.

However the attorneys of the public sale home and the vendor of the trophy query the story of the theft and guarantee that the Maradona household by no means offered proof of a doable grievance.

“Attempting, 35 years after an alleged theft, to reclaim property with out ever having filed a grievance, is an opportunistic strategy that justice can not tolerate,” mentioned Arthur Gaulier, Aguttes’ lawyer.

In a press release, Maximilien Aguttes, director of the public sale home, recalled that one of many “legends” circulating about this reward claims that Maradona forgot it on the Lido on the evening of the award ceremony.

The previous gallerist and vintage seller says he acquired it throughout an public sale in 2016 “in the identical lot of scrap” made up of lots of of trophies, most of little worth, Aguttes defined.

“He bid on eight tons and purchased them for 500 euros [unos 540 dólares] with out counting the bills,” defined the vendor’s lawyer, Marine Le Bihan. Her shopper later realized that one of many trophies might be Maradona’s.

Throughout his investigations to show the authenticity of this “golden ball”, the vintage seller contacted one of many footballer’s attorneys, assured Le Bihan.

The choice of the Nanterre court docket on the pressing enchantment offered by the household can be identified on Might 30. The court docket should resolve whether or not the sale can happen or whether or not the deserves of the matter must be examined.

The prosecution confirmed to the Afp that in parallel a grievance was filed earlier than the legal jurisdiction.

The trophy that Diego Armando Maradona obtained in 1986 isn’t associated to the Ballon d’Or awarded by France Soccer journal to the very best participant of the yr.