Lawyers for the heirs of Argentine footballer Diego Maradona said the proceedings should be suspended.
Lawyers for the heirs of Argentine soccer player Diego Maradona say the sale of the late star’s 1986 Ballon d’Or, which is scheduled to be auctioned in France next June, should be blocked. The antique dealer indicated that the ball was legally theirs.
According to the five heirs, Maradona, who was awarded the best player of the 1986 World Cup in Mexico and received the award at the famous Lido nightclub in Paris in November of the same year, was stolen in 1986. October 1989 in Naples.
The player’s family learned a few weeks ago that the award will be sold at a public auction on June 6 in Neuilly-sur-Seine, near Paris.
The family quickly took legal action to win the Ballon d’Or.
𝗟𝗘𝗕𝗔𝗟𝗟𝗟𝗟 𝗘𝗡𝗗𝗨 𝗔𝗨𝗫 𝗘𝗡𝗖𝗛𝗘̀𝗥𝗘𝗦! 🇦🇷😳
In the year The Adidas Golden Ball trophy, which won Diego Maradona’s best player of the 1986 World Cup in Mexico, was announced on June 6… pic.twitter.com/YfwRPV1yyW
— PFC (@PassionFootClub) May 7, 2024
“The family is determined to recover this (golden) ball,” said Lola Chonet, one of the family’s lawyers, before the Nanterre court.
Arthur Gaulier, a representative of the auctioneers, explained, “Trying to claim ownership 35 years after it was allegedly stolen is a convenient approach that justice cannot accept.”
Lawyers for the uncle’s auction house and the cup seller said on Thursday that Maradona’s family had not provided clear evidence of the complaint at the time.
In a press release from the director of the eponymous house, Maximilian Agot, one of the “myths” circulating about the award was that Maradona forgot it at the award ceremony at the Lido nightclub in Paris.
The former gallery owner and antiques dealer said he found it among a group of hundreds of awards at auction in 2016, many of which were of little value, and after completing the purchase he realized one of them might be Maradona’s Ballon d’Or. .
The court will make a decision on May 30 to determine whether or not the award is allowed to be auctioned.
