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Famous FIFA World Cup Goals: Maradona’s “Hand of God”
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Diego Maradona uses his left hand to punch the ball into the net past England's goalkeeper during the 1986 FIFA World Cup, known as the hand of God goal.
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Famous FIFA World Cup Goals: Maradona’s “Hand of God”

Written by
Tushaar Kuthiala
Tushaar Kuthiala has over a decade of experience in news media, content creation, and digital marketing. Over the course of his career, Tushaar has written features and articles on sports, geopolitics,...
Tushaar Kuthiala
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History
Diego Maradona uses his left hand to punch the ball into the net past England's goalkeeper during the 1986 FIFA World Cup, known as the hand of God goal.
“Hand of God”Argentine footballer Diego Maradona (left) scoring with his hand past English goalkeeper Peter Shilton.

This goal is arguably the most (in)famous in FIFA World Cup history. During the 1986 FIFA World Cup quarterfinal against England, legendary Argentine footballer Diego Maradona outjumped English goalkeeper Peter Shilton to score a goal with his hand, later claiming that the “hand of God” was partially responsible. “Un poco con la cabeza de Maradona y otro poco con la mano de Dios” (“A little with the head of Maradona and a little with the hand of God”) was how Maradona described scoring the technically illegal goal in an interview after the match. Although video replays clearly showed that Maradona had used his hand to send the ball into the net, the goal was allowed to stand because neither referee Ali Bin Nasser nor his assistant on the touchline, Bogdan Dochev, saw the handball on the field, and they could not access the replays at that time. Maradona scored a wonder goal a few minutes later to compound England’s misery. The final score was 2–1 in Argentina’s favor; as a result, England was knocked out of the tournament, and Argentina went on to lift the World Cup. (Watch the highlights of the infamous goal here.)

Tushaar Kuthiala
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