Artwork of England football defeats expected to fetch £600,000 at auction

A piece of artwork listing all of the defeats suffered by the England national football team is expected to earn between £400,000 and £600,000 at auction.

The black granite piece, which was created by Italian Maurizio Cattelan, details all of the Three Lions' losses from 1874 to 1998.

According to the auction house, the artwork is likely to fetch more than half a million pounds when it goes up on Wednesday.

"Carved into it are all the defeats of England's national football team," the Sotheby catalogue notes quote Cattelan as saying. "I guess it's a piece which talks about pride, missed opportunities and death."

England are currently 15th in the FIFA rankings.