SIX of Lionel Messi’s shirts worn during the 2022 World Cup sold for a combined $7.8m (£6.1m) at a Sotheby’s auction in New York.

Messi captained Argentina to victory at the tournament with his country beating France on penalties in the final.

The six jerseys were from the first half of the final, semi-final, quarter-final, last-16 tie and two group games.

The record for a game-worn football shirt is Diego Maradona’s ‘Hand of God’ jersey, which sold for £7.1m in 2022.

Messi, an eight-time Ballon d’Or winner, became the first player in World Cup history to score in the group stage, last 16, quarter-finals, semi-finals and final of a single tournament.

He played in all seven of Argentina’s 2022 World Cup matches, but only two of the three shirts Messi wore during the group stage will be auctioned, after Heart of Midlothian’s Australia international Cammy Devlin swapped shirts with the former Barcelona forward during the tournament.

Sotheby’s said: “A portion of the proceeds from the auction will be donated to Unicas Project, led by Sant Joan de Deu Barcelona Children’s Hospital with the support of the Leo Messi Foundation, to meet the needs of children suffering from rare diseases.”