The shirt is among the star studded catalogue compiled by top sporting auctioneer, Mullock Madeley, to be launched on Tuesday, April 9, at Wrekin College, Telford, Shropshire.

Football remains one of the fastest growing sectors of memorabilia collecting and the industry is expected to grow further following this year's World Cup which is likely to bring more international buyers and institutions into the market.

According to auctioneer, John Mullock: "Football memorabilia continues to grow in popularity. It's increasing appeal and related-media coverage has resulted in high quality collections from footballers coming onto the market.

"The availability of medals won and shirts worn by sporting legends continues to satisfy the appetites of collectors. Amongst the items at our April auction are the player collections of England Internationals Mick Fenton and Peter Broadbent, thus providing collectors with the opportunity to purchase quality England International items such as caps and shirts straddling the pre- and post-World War Two era."

Collectors preferring items of a more modern vintage won't be disappointed either. The auction line-up includes match-worn shirts of such current stars as Arsenal's Henry & Berkamp and a shirt autographed by Manchester United's 1999 treble winning side.

According to John Mullock, football memorabilia is so popular because it's a hobby open to everyone - people of all ages and income brackets: "We have items in the April auction estimated from £20 right to up thousands of pounds. It's still possible to obtain items autographed by legends of the game without spending large sums of money. The auction includes some fantastic items signed by Everton legend Dixie Dean and various menus signed by league and cup winning teams."

Asked what his favorite item for sale in the auction is, Mullock hesitates ……….
"We're selling an England Shirt from their South African tour of 1939. I've never seen a shirt from this tour before and it must rank as one of the rarest England shirts we've ever had for sale.

"However, best of all has to be the 1959 Brazil International shirt that's also in the auction. It was worn by Didi in the 1959 International against England and swapped with Broadbent after the match. Didi passed away last year but he'll always be remembered as one of the all-time greats. It's the one item any collector is bound to want ……"