Football Memorabilia

Football memorabilia can be anything from signed photographs, signed footballs, football programmes, signed football boots, football mugs, football scarves, signed football shirts, football stickers and even match ticket stubs gathered by the football fans in general or football fans of a particular club. As time goes by these items become more valuable and are either kept as a long term keepsake or kept to earn value over a period of years.

Many items used by famous football players e.g. match shirts or boots have been sold for alot of money at auctions such as Sotheby's and others. In fact the highest price fetched for a football match worn shirt is $224,000. The shirt belonged to the legendary Pele, who wore it during the 1970 World Cup final in which Brazil went onto win..

History of Football Memorabilia

It could be said that collecting football memorabilia goes back to the first decades of the 20th century, when many football fans would collect match programmes from games they went to and in the days when all the players used to travel home on public transport before they owned cars pre 1950s, fans found it easier to ask for players autographs. As years have passed people still collect football programmes but autographs are not very often kept in an autograph book anymore, players now sign their names on all sorts of memorabilia like shirts, balls, photographs and even football boots. Adding an autograph to an item used in a particular game or by a particular star can increase or decrease the value of the item, depending on the situation. If the autograph has been personalized the autograph devalues the item on the public market. Also, collectors put little value on autographed memorabilia that is sold without a certificate of authenticity. Several companies have developed systems to prove authenticity of game-used or autographed memorabilia, and collectors will generally seek out dealers that offer a lifetime, money-back, authenticity guarantee.

For the collectors who only see their memorabilia as having a sentimental value, they might look at it as a childhood memory, or as an important moment of life shared with his or her favorite star or team.