What's better... Club or Country?

[FreddyPancakes]

Hey all,

I'm looking to buy my first soccer/football box soon. I'm looking at either a Champions League box or a World Cup box. Any ideas for what would be a better investment, or does it really come down to personal preference? I'm not looking to flip or prospect necessarily, mainly for PC, but I'd be happy to grade/sell if I hit something valuable.

P.S. Apologies if there's another thread out there. I did a quick search to find something similar but this place can get overwhelming

[YayNJ]

None of the recent releases are 'investment' worthy, there's just way too much of it.

What club do you support? Do you actively watch soccer? What gets you excited?

2020/21 Topps Merlin Chrome Soccer is a great rip and has an incredibly deep and promising 'rookie' selection.

[FreddyPancakes]

Originally Posted by YayNJ

None of the recent releases are 'investment' worthy, there's just way too much of it.

What club do you support? Do you actively watch soccer? What gets you excited?

2020/21 Topps Merlin Chrome Soccer is a great rip and has an incredibly deep and promising 'rookie' selection.

Hey thanks for the reply. Inter Miami plays 5 minutes away from me. I wanted to see them play but then Messi came (which is great!) and ticket prices skyrocketed (which is not great for me!).
I went to see Real Madrid when I went to Portugal and Spain on my honeymoon. I'm partial to them and Liverpool (those were my teams in FIFA in college :P ) but am not passionate enough. When I heard a few Americans played for Leeds I thought I might follow them, but life got in the way. I'm more passionate about baseball, (American) football (pro and college), and basketball. If those weren't around, I'm sure I'd be much more into soccer, watching every weekend, etc. As a fan of many sports, there's a lot to keep up with...

I absolutely love watching the World Cup. The quality of play, the athleticism of the beautiful game featuring the world's best players, there's nothing like it. It's my favorite sporting event to watch. Would love to go to a match when it's held in the US in a few years. I love watching the USMNT. That's my favorite soccer "team."

Is this the set/box you're referring to? 2020-21 TOPPS MERLIN UEFA SOCCER FACTORY SEALED BLASTER BOX I didn't see it on Blowout, DACardWorld, or Steel City Collectibles. Never bought a box off eBay before. Safe?

[wubh]

ROI will likely be similar-ish to what you'd find in the other major sports. Prints runs for soccer are getting higher and higher and you have just as high a chance of hitting dollar box auto and #ed hits in a $150-$200 hobby box as in other sports.

World Cup/national team products hold a price premium. If you hit a #ed Messi, that's great. But with expanded checklists (especially for Prizm World Cup versus Donruss soccer), you're more likely to get hits of squad players from Saudi Arabia and Croatia that even pretty dedicated fans may not have heard of than a known star.

If you're looking for value and to dip your feet in without a major $$$ commitment, BO has 21/22 Stadium Club Champions League megas for $30 and 21/22 Topps Chrome Champions League lite boxes for $45. The aforementioned Merlin blasters and Donruss blasters can also be fun if you're not paying a markup from retail or can get a discount.

If you want a long rip, a BO competitor has a 16 box case of the Chrome lites for $560. I've opened 5 of these cases at much higher price points and had fun and hit some big cards. You'll likely only get 1 auto per case (not guaranteed since the pack odds slightly exceed the # of packs in a full Lite case) but you'll have a shot of pulling color parallels of many top stars.

[BRob1]

I would second the call for 2020/21 with either merlin or topps chrome blasters.

[mfw13]

If you want a World Cup product, the biggest problem facing you is that the 2022 World Cup products released by Panini were hugely overpriced.

If you want something inexpensive and fun, buy a box or two of 1994 Upper Deck World Cup.....lots of great players and a solid design.

The best value amongst modern products is Topps basic Champions League products....generally about $70-80 a box with solid checklists.

Everything else is overpriced....

[yiguiri2002]

All I can say is, if you are gonna get a World Cup product for sure and you are on a budget, best ROI is probably a Breakaway box.

2 SSP cards numbered to 99 or less per box. 2 additional SP cards (Breakaways). 1 auto in 2/3 boxes, 1 hit case insert in 6/7 boxes.

Now, if you are looking to hold, best bet is probably a Hobby box. They've gone up in price/hold in the last few months while the rest have gone down. They are also harder to find.

[Vinny1984]

Merlin blasters. Any year.

Don’t open any hobby. It’ll ruin your day/week.

[JWBlue]

Up until about 2-3 years ago the answer used to be club all day long.

Seems to have changed recently.

[FreddyPancakes]

Thanks for the insight everyone! I like this place

Originally Posted by YayNJ

2020/21 Topps Merlin Chrome Soccer is a great rip and has an incredibly deep and promising 'rookie' selection.

Originally Posted by BRob1

I would second the call for 2020/21 with either merlin or topps chrome blasters.

Originally Posted by wubh

If you're looking for value and to dip your feet in without a major $$$ commitment, BO has 21/22 Stadium Club Champions League megas for $30 and 21/22 Topps Chrome Champions League lite boxes for $45. The aforementioned Merlin blasters and Donruss blasters can also be fun if you're not paying a markup from retail or can get a discount.

Good stuff. I went with 21/22 Stadium Club after checking out some cards in the sets. Really like the Stadium Club photography. 20/21 is on my radar. I saw Camavinga in person at Real and would be happy to get a rookie of his. Had a hard time figuring out if I should take advantage of the $30 mega deal or buy 20/21 Merlin at $60 before guys keep showing out and increasing the price

Originally Posted by mfw13

If you want something inexpensive and fun, buy a box or two of 1994 Upper Deck World Cup.....lots of great players and a solid design.

Great idea! I was 8 during the 94 World Cup and had a sweet red, white, and blue team USA windbreaker.

Originally Posted by yiguiri2002

All I can say is, if you are gonna get a World Cup product for sure and you are on a budget, best ROI is probably a Breakaway box.

Added to the watchlist

Originally Posted by Vinny1984

Merlin blasters. Any year.

Don’t open any hobby. It’ll ruin your day/week.

Merlins next in line for me Why no hobby?

Originally Posted by JWBlue

Up until about 2-3 years ago the answer used to be club all day long.

Seems to have changed recently.

I also wanna know why...

[JWBlue]

Originally Posted by FreddyPancakes

I also wanna know why...

Probably due to the increased popularity of soccer and the World Cup.

[Vinny1984]

Originally Posted by FreddyPancakes

Thanks for the insight everyone! I like this place







Good stuff. I went with 21/22 Stadium Club after checking out some cards in the sets. Really like the Stadium Club photography. 20/21 is on my radar. I saw Camavinga in person at Real and would be happy to get a rookie of his. Had a hard time figuring out if I should take advantage of the $30 mega deal or buy 20/21 Merlin at $60 before guys keep showing out and increasing the price



Great idea! I was 8 during the 94 World Cup and had a sweet red, white, and blue team USA windbreaker.



Added to the watchlist



Merlins next in line for me Why no hobby?



I also wanna know why...

You generally want to avoid hobby boxes ever since Covid when breaking really took off. The prices are still hyper inflated especially in the soccer market. It’s priced the same as bkb/bb/fb and the demand for singles is far less…meaning your hard earned money goes poof faster. The checklists have also gotten ridiculously long meaning you’ll get plenty of color in a hobby but your odds of it being a meaningful player are small.

Just continue to do what you did and pick up cheap boxes where the rookie class didn’t “hit”. Soccer isn’t printed as much as the other sports so you can still hit some decent cards in the cheaper stuff.

[wubh]

re: World Cup prices & avoiding hobby boxes

There is only a single official World Cup set every 4 years and value/singles demand holds decently over time for top names. There are other yearly sets that include some national team licenses like Donruss and Topps/Bowman have some upcoming Euro Nations League/Euro U21 sets but they aren't the same.

Take the current Merlin product. In a full 12 box hobby case, you'll probably have 4 to 6 good boxes (case hits like Renaissance and Match Ball auto, a low #ed card of a star, star auto).

But even just looking at those 4-6 'good' boxes, you're still much more likely get killed on ROI especially versus buying singles.

Yes, opening packs is a thrill but a Messi Renaissance case hit won't even get recoup the full box price after factoring in eBay fees while plenty of other Renaissance checklist players sell in the $30 to $60 range before fees.

And that's assuming you get one of the better boxes in the case or else you're quickly turning $200 into $15-$50 of raw value if you get a Timo Werner auto and your best #ed card is Grealish to 75.

So buying most hobby boxes is a huge gamble. If that's what you're into, great. But a better way to spend your money might be some blasters/very discounted hobby boxes and buying singles you hope to pull.

[tupacgr13]

I prefer the national team cards because nowadays moving to a rival team is another day in the office. I would never buy a Luis Figo Real Madrid or Barcelona card but I have some really good cards with the national team kit. I would buy a high end club card only for the players that club means more for them(Francesco Totti, Maldini, Stevie G, Puyol, Muller, Muniain, Koke, Giggs, Tony Adams etc.)

[gomiamigo]

Yeah, I think it depends on player/club/country. Some will definitely be more desired in one than the other.

[mfw13]

Originally Posted by FreddyPancakes

I also wanna know why...

For me, it has to do with the increased player movement.

Sports fans are first and foremost fans of a team/club....so people generally only support a given player when he's on their team/club. However, since a player can only represent one country, there will always be demand for his national team cards, since always be representing that country.

I'll use Christian Pulisic as an example. I've got neutral/positive feelings about Borussia Dortmund and AC Milan, but I loathe Chelsea. So whether or not I collect any given "club" card of his will depend on whether I like the club he is currently playing for. However, he'll ALWAYS be a member of the USMNT...so I'll always collect his USMNT cards.

Messi would be another example....his Argentina and Barcelona cards will always be popular....his PSG cards much less so. Same thing with CR7 Juventus cards.

[FreddyPancakes]

Originally Posted by JWBlue

Probably due to the increased popularity of soccer and the World Cup.

Originally Posted by Vinny1984

Just continue to do what you did and pick up cheap boxes where the rookie class didn’t “hit”. Soccer isn’t printed as much as the other sports so you can still hit some decent cards in the cheaper stuff.

Originally Posted by wubh

So buying most hobby boxes is a huge gamble. If that's what you're into, great. But a better way to spend your money might be some blasters/very discounted hobby boxes and buying singles you hope to pull.

Makes sense, I didn't really think about soccer playing by different rules than other sports. And I'm gonna use that thinking on other boxes, looking for some that a cheaper because of a less-than-spectacular rookie class.

Originally Posted by tupacgr13

I prefer the national team cards because nowadays moving to a rival team is another day in the office.

Originally Posted by gomiamigo

Yeah, I think it depends on player/club/country. Some will definitely be more desired in one than the other.

Originally Posted by mfw13

Sports fans are first and foremost fans of a team/club....so people generally only support a given player when he's on their team/club. However, since a player can only represent one country, there will always be demand for his national team cards, since always be representing that country.

Messi would be another example....his Argentina and Barcelona cards will always be popular....his PSG cards much less so. Same thing with CR7 Juventus cards.

All good points. Thanks again everyone. I got my box a few days ago, pretty happy to get the aforementioned Messi in PSG , CR7, a Xavi refractor, and some rookies I don't know lol. Love the photography (even if the Griezmann pose is a little questionable). And got an Eric Cantona gold #d to 50. I'd never heard of him, so I watched some career highlights. The man knew how to use his feet, that's for sure

[Skattered888]

For me it’s country, but i’m pretty biased since i mainly collect netherlands team.

I’ve been following them since i’m a kid so its like two of my favourite things combined into one, cards and dutch soccer team.

And also, they tend to release super high end stuff in country kit. Both eminence releases and most of flawless are in country kit.

I hope topps will get into it as well now that they hold euro license.

You can worry about the lower end values but fr ultra high end legend cards, they tend to hold their value best.