Potential Worth of Soccer Cards as Market Grows

[mfw13]

Originally Posted by YayNJ

I don't know.

All I see at the moment is more and more medium term collectors leaving the hobby or severely cutting their collection.

Some massive high end collectors have been liquidating whole sections of their stash.

There could be more sure, but I doubt many of them will be collectors. IMO the hobby is not in a healthy position at all right now, and is set to get much worse.

Obviously we're dealing in generalizations, since the term "market" encompasses a huge variety of different products. Panini really screwed up with WC22 by releasing only one, extremely expensive, World Cup product.

The area that I see really having a lot of potential is cards/products oriented around GOATs....there hasn't really been a product like that since 2017 Nobility.

There's a huge amount of demand worldwide for cards of All-Time greats....

[YayNJ]

one thing I have noticed is that new collectors in the UK **REALLY** like the new, modern (partly unlicensed) Futera stuff with cut autographs etc.

stick some completely worthless gold plate on your stuff and it's a winner apparently

[703dispensary]

Originally Posted by YayNJ

stick some completely worthless gold plate on your stuff and it's a winner apparently

LOL oh wow, I got a 1/1 gold framed Domagoj Vida, yay!

99% of the Futera I've listed on ebay has sold to EU or LATAM customers.

Breakers love it...people buy that up just like Leaf product.

[mikee1186]

Topps Superstars is back tomorrow. Who asked for this??

[YayNJ]

Originally Posted by mikee1186

Topps Superstars is back tomorrow. Who asked for this??

It's release has broken the Topps site.

1 auto per 7 'hobby' boxes

God help us all.

[mikee1186]

Originally Posted by YayNJ

It's release has broken the Topps site.

1 auto per 7 'hobby' boxes

God help us all.

They priced it higher than flagship too! What in the world? Up £10 from last year. I thought the point of this product was to be more like big league baseball as a very low end starter set.

[YayNJ]

I was going to comment on that too but was in a rush - yeah, this was supposed to be a gateway product for kids, tweens and casuals. Now it’s more expensive than flagship and you get worse odds!

[703dispensary]

According to google...

[j0shuab]

Originally Posted by YayNJ

one thing I have noticed is that new collectors in the UK **REALLY** like the new, modern (partly unlicensed) Futera stuff with cut autographs etc.

stick some completely worthless gold plate on your stuff and it's a winner apparently

I've ended up with Futera as part of lots, always list them immediately, and always surprised how quickly it sells.

[YayNJ]

New Man City set. Just looks messy to me.

[Gin&Juice]

Agree. Guess I won't need to start a Blue Moon soccer card collection.

[yiguiri2002]

I'll much rather overspend on limited releases from previous years. Return might not be great but nice looking, limited cards are cool to have.

Just hope Select drops a little more, it's still too expensive. Same with Elite, I like collecting Spellbounds.

[YayNJ]

I suppose one of the 'big' RC chases recently, Roony Bardghji suffered a catastrophic injury and will be out for at least a year.

Not a scientist, but I believe modern soccer boots are to blame for the constant rise in ACL injuries.

[netmasters]

Originally Posted by YayNJ

I suppose one of the 'big' RC chases recently, Roony Bardghji suffered a catastrophic injury and will be out for at least a year.

Not a scientist, but I believe modern soccer boots are to blame for the constant rise in ACL injuries.

With the way it happens across all sports I'd say it's more likely the amount of stress being put on the muscles of players to be bigger, fast and stronger. You can only stretch a rubber band so far before it snaps.

[YayNJ]

More and more people selling up / getting rid of their collections.

With the terrible quality of recent offerings from both Panini and Topps, it's not looking healthy is it?

[mfw13]

Originally Posted by YayNJ

More and more people selling up / getting rid of their collections.

With the terrible quality of recent offerings from both Panini and Topps, it's not looking healthy is it?

The people who are selling aren't collectors....they're investors who are cutting their losses....big difference. And that's only something that really affects a small part of the market, i.e. low-numbered and/or scarce cards of superstars and "hot" young players.

Collectors are still collecting, just like they always have, and just like they always will. I've gotten some great bargains on complete sets recently (complete 22-23 Deco set for <$100, complete 2022 Prizm WC set for <$75, etc.).

That said, Topps and Panini aren't doing themselves any favors by overpricing their releases. Pretty much the only product release that is reasonably priced is UEFA Club Competitions.

The other problem that the soccer market has, which doesn't affect any other sport, is that it's talent is dispersed across multiple leagues with different rights holders. So no product has ALL the players that collectors want. Messi is in MLS. CR7 is in Saudi. Haaland is in the EPL. Mpabbe is in Ligue Un.

This year's Champions League products will have only two of those four...and even WC22 products only had 3/4, since Norway rarely qualifies for international tournaments.

[YayNJ]

Originally Posted by mfw13

The people who are selling aren't collectors....

one of, if not the biggest collector of Eminence and other high end sets has let their collection go over the past few weeks

it's not really about these collectors though, it's the new ones that are jumping ship.

doesn't matter if they have been collecting a year, or four years... people are dumping every day and getting out, and it's these people that the hobby needs if it is to sustain itself

[mfw13]

Originally Posted by YayNJ

one of, if not the biggest collector of Eminence and other high end sets has let their collection go over the past few weeks

this person had countless 1/1's and /5's and pretty much had the Pele, Messi, Ronaldo and Maradona market tied up

Sounds more like an investor to me...

[YayNJ]

Originally Posted by mfw13

Sounds more like an investor to me...

Nah, he was a proper collector.

[mfw13]

Originally Posted by YayNJ

it's not really about these collectors though, it's the new ones that are jumping ship.

And they're investors, not collectors, who only got into it during the pandemic because of FOMO, and we're hoping to flip whatever they bought for a quick profit.

[dream34]

The thing I've noticed the most with Soccer is that it's really all about the news and rumors more than the actual week to week performance. It's good in the long run but discouraging that Mbappe scores a hat trick and when you look him up on the internet it's just all about rumors (Real Madrid!? Liverpool?! the last few years) instead of actual performance.

Leverkusen is doing something historic and Wirtz is extremely deserving of Ballon D'Or hype but even here you'd never know it because all the focus is never on actual week to week (or sometimes even year to year) performance.

[YayNJ]

Is it me or is it getting harder to search for things on eBay?

[yiguiri2002]

Anyone got any Select La Liga this morning? I wanna get some but almost 400 with taxes is ridiculous.

I'll love to bust some non-EPL and La Liga is the cheapest one but it's still too expensive.

[mfw13]

Originally Posted by yiguiri2002

Anyone got any Select La Liga this morning? I wanna get some but almost 400 with taxes is ridiculous.

I'll love to bust some non-EPL and La Liga is the cheapest one but it's still too expensive.

I would really like to be a fly on the wall at Panini's pricing meetings...I have no clue what their pricing strategy is....price everything so high that only rich Chinese breakers are willing to buy it?

Seems like 80-90% of all soccer releases are being bought by people in China.....

[YayNJ]

I'd say 90% of what I buy on eBay now comes from either China or South Korea.