The ball David Beckham sent to the audience when failing a penalty kick in the match between Portugal and England at the Euro 2004, reached 10 million euros in an Internet auction.

Beckham's failure contributed to the elimination of his team in the quarterfinals and it seems it is worth for collectors to push the value of the object of a mistake the captain of the English national soccer team would rather forget.

The auction has caused a headache to the administrators of the Internet site eBay, who has problems to differentiate the authentic bidding from that only seeking to raise the value of the ball.

Spanish fan Pablo Carral, who caught the ball kicked by Beckham to the row Q of Lisbon's Da Luz Stadium, decided to sell the ball in eBay, after a British daily offered 18,000 euros for it.

The ball, with the names of the participating teams engraved, the date of the match and the name of the venue, appeared on sale on Monday at an initial price of one euro, which in less than 48 hours skyrocketed to 10 million euros.

The auction will end on July 22 and eBay says the bidding can only be withdrawn under special circumstances.