Soccer has always been more than a sport. It is the language spoken by billions — an enduring mythology written in grass stains, gold medals, and the fraying threads of match-worn jerseys. When Julien’s Auctions presents Sports Legends: The Pitch to The Court this July, its soccer offerings don’t merely trace the arc of athletic achievement. They constitute, collectively, a museum-grade history of the world’s game.

The auction brings together artifacts from across seven decades and four continents — a sweep of objects that connects the Brazil of 1962 to the Paris of 2022, the teenage prodigy from Buenos Aires to the golden boy of contemporary European football. Each piece carries a story that transcends the scoreline it was born from.

The Jewel of the Collection

Pelé

1962 Brazil FIFA World Cup Gold Winner’s Medal

Estimate: $200,000 – $400,000

It is difficult to overstate what this medal represents. By the time Brazil lifted the trophy in Chile in 1962, Pelé was already a two-time world champion at twenty-one — and the gold medal presented to him as part of that triumphant squad stands as one of the most significant objects in the auction’s history. Brazil’s 1962 campaign unfolded in the shadow of Pelé’s early injury, yet the nation’s victory only deepened the legend: here was a team so formidably built around one man that it won the World Cup without him. This medal is the physical residue of that paradox — and of a dynasty that changed what soccer could mean.

Pelé’s presence in this sale extends well beyond the medal. The broader collection — previewed now at Seattle’s Museum of Pop Culture as part of the Icons of Soccer exhibition — includes his 1960 passport, personal trophies, and hand-signed memorabilia. Taken together, they offer an intimate portrait of a man who was, for much of his lifetime, the most recognized face on earth.

The Beginning of a Myth

Diego Maradona

Match-Worn 1978 Argentinos Juniors Rookie Year Jersey

Estimate: $10,000 – $20,000

Before the Hand of God. Before the Goal of the Century. Before Naples, before the 1986 World Cup, before all the mythology that would follow — there was a compact, electric seventeen-year-old wearing the blue-and-red stripes of Argentinos Juniors and announcing himself to the world. This match-worn jersey from Maradona’s rookie professional season predates everything that would define him. It is a document of pure potential: the earliest chapter of a career so improbable it required reinvention at every stage.

The rarity of this lot cannot be overstated. Maradona memorabilia from his peak years at Napoli and with the Argentine national team is coveted and widely sought — but material from his formative club years represents a far scarcer category. This jersey exists at the intersection of football history and myth-making, from the moment before the legend had fully formed.

Gerd Müller

Match-Worn and Signed 1972–1973 West Germany Jersey

Estimate: $2,000 - $3,000

To understand what Gerd Müller represented to world football in the early 1970s, consider the arithmetic: 68 international goals in 62 appearances for West Germany, a record that stood for four decades.

This match-worn and signed Erima jersey from the 1972–73 season places him at the precise peak of his powers — the year bookended by West Germany's European Championship triumph and the run-up to the 1974 World Cup victory on home soil. Müller was not an elegant player in the conventional sense; he was something more ruthless than that. He was the most efficient finisher the game had yet produced, and this jersey, accompanied by a Certificate of Authenticity from Agon, is a direct artifact of the season that proved it.

The Modern Game

If Pelé and Maradona represent the foundational eras, the sale also speaks fluently to the era that is still unfolding — to the players who have inherited the mantle of global fandom and are in the process of writing their own chapters.

Lionel Messi

Signed Argentina Jersey

Estimate: $2,000 – $3,000

The debate is settled — or at least it was answered, unambiguously, in Qatar in 2022 when Messi finally delivered Argentina its first World Cup in thirty-six years. This signed Argentina jersey arrives in the market at the peak of his legacy, representing the full weight of a career defined by record-breaking achievement and, at last, the championship that had long eluded him.

Cristiano Ronaldo

Match-Worn 2008 Manchester United Boots

Estimate: $3,000 - $5,000

In 2008, Cristiano Ronaldo was in the process of becoming something the sport had not seen before — a player who combined the physical conditioning of an elite athlete with a technical repertoire that seemed to expand with every campaign. That season, he won the Premier League, the Champions League, and the Ballon d'Or, completing a sweep that announced him as unambiguously the best player on earth. These neon green Nike cleats, match-worn with Manchester United during that landmark year, are artifacts of that transformation at its apex. Accompanied by a Letter of Authenticity from MEARS and two Letters of Provenance from previous owners, the chain of custody is as rigorous as the season they document.

David Beckham

Match-Worn 2009 England Jersey

Estimate: $800 - $1,200

By October 2009, David Beckham had long since transcended the conventional boundaries of footballer and become something closer to a cultural institution — a figure whose influence on the sport's global reach is difficult to fully calculate. This Umbro England jersey was match-worn against Belarus at Wembley Stadium on October 14, 2009, a World Cup qualifying victory in which England ran out 3–0 winners. It is a late-career artifact from a player whose relationship with the national team was always charged with particular meaning — the captain, the exile, the return — and it represents one of his final chapters in an England shirt before international retirement the following year.

Kylian Mbappé

Match-Worn 2022 Paris Saint-Germain Jersey

Estimate: $3,000 – $5,000

Mbappé’s 2022 PSG jersey arrives in this sale at a moment when his place in the game’s future feels less like prediction and more like established fact. His performances at the 2022 World Cup — where he scored a hat-trick in the final — announced him as the standard-bearer for the next generation, and this match-worn kit from that same year captures him at the height of his powers in club football.

Deeper into the Collection

The soccer holdings extend beyond the marquee names. The Icons of Soccer exhibition in Seattle — running June 12 through July 5 — includes match-worn jerseys from goalkeeping legends Oliver Kahn and Manuel Neuer, material tied to Erling Haaland, and a striking historical artifact: a 1955 Adrián Escudero tribute medal connected to Alfredo Di Stéfano, the Argentine-Spanish forward whose five consecutive European Cup victories with Real Madrid remain one of the sport’s most staggering achievements. The Baldocchi 1970 Brazil “World Cup” Gold Winner’s Medal, connecting to that legendary side, rounds out the deeper historical offerings.

What the soccer portion of this sale achieves, taken as a whole, is something close to a through-line of the game’s entire modern history — from the era of Di Stéfano and Pelé through the mythology of Maradona, into the Messi-and-Mbappé present. Each object carries the game’s history in its fibers and finishes.

NOW ON VIEW · EXCLUSIVE EXHIBITION

Icons of Soccer — a curated preview of sale highlights — is on view at the Museum of Pop Culture (MOPOP) in Seattle from June 12 through July 5, 2026 — with the LIVE auction taking place July 9, 2026 at 10 AM PT in Los Angeles.

The exhibition features Pelé’s personal collection including his 1962 World Cup medal and 1960 passport, alongside Maradona’s rookie jersey, Mbappé and Messi memorabilia, and historical artifacts connected to Di Stéfano, Kahn, Neuer, and Haaland.