Soccer Card Collecting For Beginners
Did the World Cup get you interested in soccer? Are you ready to start collecting soccer cards? Even if you collect other sports cards there are some things you should know before getting started.
- Get familiar with the different sets of cards. Unlike in other sports where only 1 company (Topps or Panini) have the license soccer is spread out to both. There are many different leagues around the world and depending on which one if is Topps or Panini may hold the license. I would recommend reading this as a good thorough breakdown Soccer Card Brands Breakdown. There is also Leaf and Futera who put out some licensed and unlicensed cards.
- Grading. If you are already a collector of another sport you know all about this as well as the following points. You should just pay attention to point #1. If you are a new collector grading is a very important part of the hobby. Grading is just as it sounds. You send your card off to a company and they put it in a holder or slab (see image below) with a grade of 1–10 on it depending on the condition of the card. There are a few big grading companies but for right now the 3 biggest are PSA, SGC and BGS. PSA is by far the biggest and commands the most value. If you are buying a card that is not graded pay very close attention to the condition of the card.
3. Buying and Selling. There are many places to buy soccer cards. Some of the online and some offline. If you live in or close to an American city there is likely a local card shop (LCS) or card show close to you. If you live abroad or somewhere more rural you may not be so fortunate. That is OK because there are plenty of online options with eBay being the biggest. There are two ways to buy on eBay, buy it now listings or auctions. Buy it now are fixed price listings which you can just choose and buy cards. These can be Or Best Offer (OBO) as well. If you see or Best Offer that means you can send the seller the price you are willing to pay and they can accept or not. If you see or Best Offer always send a lower offer than the list price as the seller is expecting to sell the card for less. There are also auctions ending 24/7/365. Ebay auctions end as soon as the time is over. Most people “snipe” which means they wait until the last possible second to bid. A couple of other websites that have auction and fixed price card listings are PWCC and Goldin. You can also join Facebook groups related to soccer cards. They are a good place to buy and sell as you can avoid the fees associated with selling on the other sites.
4. Comps. This is a word you will likely hear or read a lot. This is how everyone determines the price to buy or sell a card. It is short for comparable sales. Much like with real estate a lot of the card market is based on comps. The easiest way to check comps is on 130point.com Just put in the card title you are looking for and it will show you recent eBay sales. Since eBay sells the most cards that is usually what is used for a lot of comps.
5. Different Types OF Cards. There are a few different types of cards. The most common card is referred to as base. It is the least valuable of modern day cards. Up until the 2000s these were the only type of soccer cards. In the 2000s they started to introduce numbered cards (parallels), autographed cards and patch (relic) cards. A numbered card is exactly now it sounds. The card is given a number and in most cases a different color than base cards. You can in the image below a base card and a numbered version of the same card. The numbers can vary wildly but the number the card is out of is more important. For instance if you see 5/99 stamped on the back that means there are 99 versions of that card and yours is number 5. Another version of that same card may be numbered 12/49. It will be a different color than the one to 99 but the image will be the same. The card out of 49 will be more valuable than the one out of 99. The number can be on the front or back of the card. In the Lionel Messi above you can see on the right in blue it is numbered 4/5. The number will have a / and don’t confuse it with the card number from the set which will not have a /.
There are also autographed cards. These are exactly how they sound. The player has either autographed the card or a clear sticker which was placed on the card. In most cases an autograph directly on the card will be more valuable than one on a sticker. Another type of card is a patch or relic card. With these the company gets a jersey of the play and cuts it up and adds a piece to the card. The Lionel Messi above in the grading section is an example of that. Check out these Lionel Messi eBay listings as an example of the many different types of soccer cards from the same set. You will see how the value varies based on the rarity.
6. Soccer Rookie Cards. In most cases a player’s most valuable card will be thier first or rookie card. In soccer this is a little more confusing that in the traditional American sports since there are so many leagues and there is not a draft. You will have to do your own research to figure out which each player’s rookie card is. In soccer, stickers also cause some confusion as they may come out before a card does as you can see with these Kylian Mbappe rookie cards. If you are just starting now and you are collecting players that are currently playing I would suggest sticking with their rookie cards and ignoring the stickers.
