On 22 June 1986 at the Estadio Azteca in Mexico City, Argentina faced England in the quarterfinals of the FIFA World Cup. In the 51st minute, a ball played into England’s penalty area saw Argentina’s Diego Maradona and England goalkeeper Peter Shilton move toward a loose aerial ball. Maradona reached the ball with his left hand and deflected it past Shilton into the net. The match officials, including the Tunisian referee Ali Bin Nasser, allowed the goal to stand despite protests from the English players. The event immediately provoked controversy. Television replays — not available to the on-field referees for decision-making at the time — clearly showed Maradona’s hand contacting the ball. Maradona later described the goal with a remark that became famous: he said it was scored “a little with the head of Maradona and a little with the hand of God.” That phrasing, reported contemporaneously in the press, both acknowledged the hand contact and framed it with a degree of mystique. Maradona never fully recanted the acknowledgement that his hand was involved; his later comments ranged from playful justification to outright admissions that he had used his hand to score. The goal gave Argentina a 1–0 lead. Less than four minutes later Maradona scored again in a separate play now widely celebrated as one of the greatest goals in World Cup history: he dribbled past multiple England players from his own half and finished to make the score 2–0. Argentina won the match 2–1 and went on to win the 1986 World Cup, defeating West Germany in the final. Reactions to the “Hand of God” goal were immediate and polarized. English players and fans viewed the decision as a clear officiating error that unfairly influenced the match’s outcome. Many Argentine supporters and commentators framed the episode within sport’s competitive and psychological dynamics. Over time, the phrase “Hand of God” entered football lore as shorthand for decisive, illegitimate goals scored by hand or other rule violations that go uncalled. The incident also fueled broader discussions about refereeing, technology, and the limits of on-field decision-making. In the decades following the match, football authorities gradually introduced technological aids — notably goal-line technology and the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) system — intended to reduce clear officiating errors. Those changes reflect, in part, lessons drawn from high-profile incidents like the 1986 quarterfinal. Historically, the “Hand of God” remains among the most discussed single moments in international football: a scored goal that combined athletic skill, gamesmanship, and controversy, and that helped define Diego Maradona’s complex legacy. While replay evidence shows hand contact, memory and interpretation of the match are shaped by Maradona’s wider performances in the tournament, the political and cultural context of the era (including recent history between Argentina and Britain), and enduring debates over fairness in sport.