This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 12/11/2022
How often does an item as personal as a player's ID card from a major football championship come up for auction? Well, we've never had the pleasure of handling one. And this example happened to belong to arguably the greatest footballer ever. Presented here is Lionel Messi's 2011 Copa America Argentina player pass with clear evidence of usage.
Hosted in Argentina, the 2011 Copa America was supposed to be a glorious event for Messi and his home country, but La Albiceleste got knocked out in the quarterfinals by eventual champion Uruguay on penalty kicks. This followed two previous heartaches in 2004 and 2007 in which Argentina lost to their Brazilian nemesis in the finals, and it preceded two subsequent runner-up finishes to Chili in 2015 and 2016. Alas, in the most recent 2021 Copa America, Messi and Argentina found redemption by beating Brazil 1-0 on ther rival's home soil.
Messi's player pass is laminated in plastic with his individual Argentina National Team photo and the 2011 Copa America Argentina logo at the top followed by unique identifiers including his full name [nombre], doc #, country [pais], and company/title [empresa]. We presume that players and coaches from each team were issued just one of these passes to gain entry into stadiums and locker room facilities during the three-week tournament. Comes with its original lanyard stamped "Copa America Argentina 2011" that wrapped around King Leo's neck and could still carry some of the soccer legend's DNA.