What do you get for the Real Madrid fan in your life who has everything else this Christmas?
What about a full-size locker once used by galacticos past and present including Vinicius Junior, Cristiano Ronaldo, David Beckham, Zinedine Zidane or Luis Figo? Or the mosaic of the club badge that players used to walk around before stepping onto the pitch at the Santiago Bernabeu?
Those items have been put up for auction by Sotheby’s, the internationally renowned firm best known for its multi-million-pound fine art sales. The lockers are estimated to fetch between £10,000 and £15,000 ($13,000-19,000) each; the mosaic between £12,000 and £18,000.
The 24 lockers were removed at the end of the 2021-22 season as part of the stadium’s extensive renovations and are on display at Sotheby’s London auction house. They feature the name, picture and shirt of the players from that La Liga and Champions League-winning campaign. They were used from 2001-02, when president Florentino Perez began to assemble a squad of galacticos in his first spell in charge.
Certain lockers hold more allure than others. Thibaut Courtois’ No 1 spot was once occupied by Iker Casillas. Karim Benzema’s No 9 locker was previously used by Ronaldo Nazario and Cristiano Ronaldo while Figo, Mesut Ozil and now Luka Modric are some of the headline names to have called No 10 home. No 7 — used by Eden Hazard that season but more significantly by Raul and the Portuguese Ronaldo — is the only one the club have kept for their museum.
Even some of the seemingly less glamorous units have their own story. Jesus Vallejo’s No 5 locker previously belonged to Zidane, while No 23, used by left-back Ferland Mendy, was Beckham’s during his four-year spell in the Spanish capital. It is hard to imagine many Madridistas getting excited about Mariano Diaz’s No 24 — the reserve striker scored once in 11 appearances that season.
In 2022, Sotheby’s sold Diego Maradona’s ‘Hand of God’ Argentina shirt from the 1986 World Cup quarter-final against England for £7.1million — a record for a football shirt. Earlier this year, a set of sneakers Michael Jordan wore during the NBA finals also auctioned by Sotheby’s fetched $8m. But you might ask what kind of market exists for player lockers that are merely used for storage, in contrast to matchworn shirts and shoes.
“If you’re a lover of sport, especially team sports, arguably the most sacred place in the entire stadium would be the locker,” Jon Curleigh, the Canadian founder of Madrid’s memorabilia partner Pursuit 3, tells The Athletic.
“What happens in there? What happened in there at half-time when you were 3-0 down in El Clasico? Who was in there at a moment in time that mattered that made a significant impact? There’s this mystery around it because people don’t get to go in that locker room, like, ever.”
The benchmark was set earlier this year. In August, Sotheby’s sold the locker used by the late Kobe Bryant at the LA Lakers’ Staples Center for $2.9million. Madrid’s partner Pursuit 3 and Sotheby’s were already in discussions before that auction, although Curleigh says the timing certainly helped.
“Kobe’s locker is about Kobe, and this is about Real Madrid and 20 years’ worth of Real Madrid history,” says Sotheby’s director George North. “It definitely factored in, but the fact that we sold Kobe’s didn’t mean (we thought), ‘Oh great, we can sell lockers now’.”
The most striking part of the collection is the 300cm-wide (118-inch) mosaic of the club badge. It used to separate the home and away team dressing rooms at the Bernabeu and had to be painstakingly excavated by a team of workers over 10 days. Curleigh, 58, argues it could be “one of the most unique and rarest sports artefacts ever offered”.
Sotheby’s is still unsure who will buy the lockers and the mosaic, with a portion of the funds going to the club’s charitable Real Madrid Foundation. Other items include the doors to the locker room and smaller plaques with the club logo that are estimated to go for a more reasonable price of £1,000 to £2,000 when the online auction closes on Tuesday.
“We have a very precise model when it comes to selling contemporary or impressionist art,” says North, 36. “We have a very good idea of the market, the buyers and the players. When it comes to a sale like this… we don’t know.”
“It could be somebody in Croatia who loves Modric, it could be somebody in Brazil who loves Vini, it could be somebody in France who loves Benzema — it could be anybody,” Curleigh says of the lockers’ potential destination. “It will end up with a fan who really appreciates the team, the player, a moment.”
Pursuit 3 is looking to tap into Madrid’s global fanbase with further auctions of items from the Bernabeu after this one, including goal nets and corner flags. It has worked with the club to offer socios — club members — the chance to buy their previous seats from the ground and customise them using 3D printing.
As for lockers, North does not rule out Sotheby’s auctioning more in the future. The consultancy firm Market Decipher estimates the sports collectables market will reach a value of $227billion by 2032, up from $12.2bn in 2021. So, could lockers become the next memorabilia trend?
“This 20-year period has some incredible stories to tell,” North says of the Madrid collection. “With Manchester United (in the same time), there’s been a kind of fluctuation. We’ve got this wonderful snapshot (for Madrid); if another team has that extraordinary snapshot, we’re all ears.”
“We’re seeing that there’s a value,” adds Curleigh. “Now there’s a comparable (sale) with the Kobe Bryant (locker), so it’s irrefutable.
“Kobe was a cultural icon and not with us anymore so that obviously raises the value. But one day the same will happen along the journey with sport and individuals. You’re going to see really unique artefacts come to market that are rare and one of a kind.”
(Top photo: Wiktor Szymanowicz/Anadolu via Getty Images)
