The medal, which the former Chelsea boss received after his team's triumph at the end of the 2005-06 season, was sold for £21,600 to an unnamed bidder at a Bonham's sporting memorabilia sale.

Mourinho threw the medal into a packed Stamford Bridge stand after Chelsea had clinched the title with a 3-0 win over Manchester United.

It was Chelsea's second title in a row and afterwards Mourinho, now coach of Inter Milan, commented that whoever caught the medals would be able to keep them as a memento or "make a fortune on eBay".

The lot was expected to fetch between £18,000 and £22,000 and the vendor was the lucky Blues fan who caught it that day.

Bonhams expert Dan Davies said: "We are very pleased with the sale and we're generally doing exceedingly well, especially as we're meant to be in a dreadful financial situation."

The lot was highly sought after by football fans and collectors and it was the first Premier League medal to go through the auction house.

A Lewis Hamilton team jacket failed to sell at the auction, but Mr Davies said it was due to the item only being added to the list 10 days prior to the sale.