Buenos Aires, 6 June 2024 (dpa/MIA) - A French court on Wednesday upheld an appeal from Diego Maradona's heirs to stop a planned auction of the Golden Ball trophy the late Argentina great received as best player of the 1986 World Cup.

L'Equipe sports paper said that an appeal court in Versailles overturned a previous court ruling that allowed the auction to go ahead despite the opposition from two Maradona daughters in an ownership dispute.

Until a final ownership decision, the Versailles court ordered the sequestration of the trophy.

The trophy had been missing for decades, allegedly stolen from a safe in a Naples bank in 1989 when he was playing for Napoli. It is said to have surfaced again in 2016 when a collector bought it for small money along with other trophies, without knowing at the time what trophy it exactly was.

Two expert reports later concluded that it was the 1986 Golden Ball trophy, and Maradona's daughters claimed ownerships as heirs and said it could not be auctioned off.

Maradona led Argentina to the title at the 1986 tournament in Mexico, winning the final 3-2 against West Germany.

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