At 78, former Tunisian football referee Ali Bin Nasser could be fabulously rich. No, he didn’t hit the casino jackpot or inherit from wealthy relatives in California. He just made a glaring mistake at the World Cup 36 years ago.

Many have already criticized Bin Nasser for being unscrupulous, saying how can you monetize your own jamb – and even on such a scale? On the other hand, the judge can be praised for his ingenuity.

He made a very smart move.

And who’s laughing now?

Nasser is known for refereeing the quarter-final match of the 1986 World Cup, held in Mexico. The teams of England and Argentina met there, and Diego Maradona then scored two legendary goals and helped his team win 2-1. If there are no questions for one of the goals (the great Argentinean simply circled almost all the opponents and rolled the ball into an empty net), then the other one forever acquired a shade of scandalousness. This, of course, is about the “Hand of God”.

Photo: © Getty Images / Staff / Hulton Archive / Gettyimages.ru

Naturally, after that incident, Nasser was laughed at, and he was completely removed from judging the world championships. Now Nasser can laugh at all his spiteful critics. The fact is that after the famous match, he did something important.

The referee showed initiative and took the ball, which Maradona hand sent to the British goal. 36 years later, when that episode finally turned into a legend, Nasser made a knight’s move. He put the ball up for auction and asks for 3.5 million euros for it. And after all the buyer for certain will be!

— This ball is part of a great football history. It’s time to share it with the world. I hope the buyer will put it on public display, – said on behalf of Nasser in the announcement of the London auction.

“No conscience”

Of course, not everyone appreciated the referee’s act. Nasser was immediately criticized by Gary Lineker, who scored the only English goal in that match. Now the BBC TV presenter did not like that the referee, who unfairly deprived the England team of a chance to reach the semi-finals, is capitalizing on his stupid mistake.

– How did it happen that the referee got the ball ?! No, what an insolent person: to keep the ball at home all this time, and now to cash in on his own failure and on the most resonant mistake in the history of football! Maradona cheated, but at least he was a great football player. And this guy just has no conscience, — quotes Lineker The Sun.

Gary Lineker and Oscar Ruggeri / Photo: © Peter Robinson – EMPICS / Contributor / PA Images / Gettyimages.ru

Gary’s anger is understandable. If Nasser put the ball up for auction for charity, no one would most likely say a bad word. Immediately fans (especially English) get a kind of spit in the soul. It turns out that the referee ruined their lives, and now he will also make money on it.

Nasser himself always put the blame on the linesman, who supposedly had to give him a hand signal. The side referee that day was the Bulgarian judge Bogdan Dochev. He, in turn, blamed Nasser for everything, saying that he had no right to discuss the decision of the chief referee, although he saw that the ball was scored in violation. The truth, as it should be, is probably somewhere in between. In the end, FIFA is constantly changing the rules for the interaction of referees on the field, as well as the interpretation of episodes – and referees do not always have time to adapt to this.

Now it remains only to observe the course of the auction – it is unlikely that it will be possible to prevent the sale of the ball to Nasser’s haters. And the former referee is now probably making plans: where to go, what to invest in, who to pay for college … This was worth waiting for 36 years!