The date was June 22, 1986. The venue: Estadio Azteca, Mexico City, altitude 2,240 metres. The match: Argentina vs England. The quarter-final of the FIFA World Cup. What followed in those 90 minutes would divide football history into a before and an after.
The Context: A War Disguised as a Football Match
Four years earlier, Argentina and England had fought each other in a real war — the Falklands conflict. 649 Argentine and 255 British soldiers dead in 74 days of fighting over a group of islands in the South Atlantic. Football had officially nothing to do with it. But when 114,000 spectators packed into the Azteca that afternoon, everyone knew: this was not just a game.
England arrived as serious contenders. Peter Shilton in goal. Gary Lineker up front, who would finish the tournament as top scorer. A team managed by Bobby Robson, organized and difficult to break down. Argentina had Diego Armando Maradona — 25 years old, at the absolute peak of his powers, wearing the iconic light blue and white No. 10 shirt that would become the most recognized jersey in the history of the sport.
The First Goal: The Hand That Shook the World
51st minute. Argentina 0, England 0. Jorge Valdano sends a pass towards Maradona, who collides with Steve Hodge. The ball loops backward into the English penalty area. Maradona arrives at a run and, with his left fist barely concealed from the referee Ali Bin Nasser, punches the ball into the net.
The stadium erupts. England protest furiously. Maradona runs toward the corner flag, arms raised, turning to his teammates with an expression that mixes ecstasy and disbelief. Bin Nasser consults his linesman. Then signals the centre circle.
Goal.
In the press conference afterward, Maradona would say it was scored "a little with the head of Maradona and a little with the hand of God." The phrase entered football folklore. The controversy never died. But what happened four minutes later silenced every argument.
The Second Goal: The Greatest in History
55th minute. Maradona receives the ball in his own half, roughly 65 metres from the English goal. There are six England players between him and Peter Shilton. What happens next lasts 10.8 seconds.
He turns past Peter Beardsley. He accelerates past Peter Reid, leaving him standing. He swerves past Terry Butcher, once, then again. He enters the penalty area. Glenn Hoddle closes in from one side, Terry Fenwick from the other. Maradona drops his shoulder, cuts inside, and slides the ball under Shilton's diving body.
The Azteca does not explode — it shudders. A roar that the BBC commentary team would later describe as unlike anything they had heard at a football ground. Maradona continues his run, arm raised, one finger pointing at the sky, as his teammates pile on top of him. The commentator Victor Hugo Morales, broadcasting live on Argentine radio, loses himself completely: "Cosmic kite, what planet are you from?"
In 2002, that goal was voted the greatest in World Cup history. It has never been seriously challenged for the title.
The Final Score and What It Meant
Argentina won 2-1. Lineker scored a consolation header in the 81st minute. Argentina went on to win the World Cup, defeating West Germany 3-2 in the final. Maradona was named the tournament's best player without debate.
But the match against England transcended the tournament itself. It became a document — a recorded proof that football, at its most extreme, can contain multitudes. Cynicism and genius. Cheating and transcendence. War and play. All in 45 minutes of a second half in Mexico City, in the summer of 1986.
The Jersey That Became a Symbol
The Argentina No. 10 shirt Maradona wore that afternoon — the Le Coq Sportif light blue and white striped jersey — sold at auction in 2022 for £7.1 million, making it the most expensive match-worn football shirt ever sold. The buyer was a private collector. The shirt had been taken directly off Maradona's back by English midfielder Steve Hodge immediately after the match, in a swap that Hodge later said he almost didn't go through with after the handball controversy.
Today, replicas of that shirt are among the most sought-after items for any serious football memorabilia collector. Not just as an object, but as a piece of history — a record of the afternoon when one man, in 10.8 seconds, showed the world what football could be.
Some moments don't need context. Some moments become the context.
June 22, 1986, was one of them.
