Women's Soccer Collectors

[brewtown107]

I don't know offhand, but it wouldn't surprise me too much.

Seems like a lot of the top U.S. players have been part time players for their NWSL clubs at times. Lots of missed time for National Team duty, plus missed time due to rest or injury recovery after playing in those National Team games. I haven't followed very closely until the past couple seasons, but it seems to me like maybe NWSL players miss more club games than Euro players do for international duty, because so many National Team tournaments happen during the middle of the NWSL season, which is the offseason for leagues overseas.

Also, although the current USWNT coach is very open about basing his selection of players on how they perform at club level, I'm not sure previous coaches have done the same. So it's possible that USWNT players in the past have taken even more time off at the club than they do now. Especially since they were being paid by U.S. Soccer, rather than by their club teams. Now that has changed, which might mean we see more club games out of top National team players than we saw in the past.

Regarding Megan specifically, I was surprised when I looked her up and saw how low she is on the all time U.S. scoring list, given her high profile and how long she's been on the team. But that's partly a testament to how many great players have come before her, and how many have played alongside her. Only so many goals to go around, and she's been playing with scorers like Abby Wambach, Carli Lloyd, Alex Morgan, and Christen Press her whole career. I didn't find a list of all time assists, but I'd bet she's up there on such a list if it exists.

[YayNJ]

Ah, good point - the international windows clashing with the domestic season would make sense, and the USWNT seemed to play a LOT of games over the years.

Between 2011 and 2014 Rapinoe only played 41 club games. That's pretty staggering, even more so when you consider that 41 games was spread over five different clubs!

[SpartanNation]

Unless I'm reading the new listing wrong, the new NWSL Parkside Paramount set comes in packs of 15 cards, with only one pack per box(???) - for $75 a box.

"Paramount is a premium 150 Base Card set featuring the NWSL's stars on 55pt canvas card stock with a rigid core. Each base card is limited to 1000 prints with multiple parallels."

Checklist: https://www.parksidecards.com/blogs/...checklist-2022

[obenheimer78]

Originally Posted by SpartanNation

Unless I'm reading the new listing wrong, the new NWSL Parkside Paramount set comes in packs of 15 cards, with only one pack per box(???) - for $75 a box.

"Paramount is a premium 150 Base Card set featuring the NWSL's stars on 55pt canvas card stock with a rigid core. Each base card is limited to 1000 prints with multiple parallels."

Checklist: https://www.parksidecards.com/blogs/...checklist-2022

You are reading that correct. There will be at least one autograph card per box as well. Jordyn Huitema will have her first official autograph cards in the set. Base sets could be tough to put together, but this could be a nice set to have. I didn't buy in to the 2022 set, but I'm thinking about building a base set and picking up a Huitema autograph.

[DonrussDean]

Auto list is blah IMO..

[glassnickels]

That's a lot of insert sets for a 15 card box

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk

[SpartanNation]

I realize seeing "RC" on a card... though helpful, is not required (looking at you 2021 NWLS Premiere series), but...
I thought a player's first appearance on a card made that their rookie card.

So which is Jayden Shaw's rookie card - her first appearance (Pronto card #116), or her card with the RC on it (Paramount card #98)?

Next, how can some players have the RC designation in the Paramount set, when they already had the RC flag in the NWSL Collection set (Examples: Girma, Ordóñez, Cook)? Is there such a thing as a "true rookie" in these instances?

Lastly - as I'm new to the game and the players, I'm trying to determine which cards in the Parkside 2021 NWLS Premiere set are rookie cards.
I've done a thorough search on every card (comparing each year's draft lists and eBay listings) and it's obviously a rookie-heavy set.
Is there an "official rookie list" for that set anywhere I could confirm my cards against?

Thanks all - love this community!

[brewtown107]

The definition of "rookie card" is surprisingly complex, and there's a ton of disagreement. Soccer/football adds another element: rookie stickers versus rookie cards.

In my opinion, a card from an "instant" or "now" set is not a RC. Needs to be from a release that came in packs or boxes. That's how I collect, but may not be how others collect. I also ignore all stickers except vintage stickers that are old enough to pre-date self-adhesive backing. Again, just my opinion, and others may differ.

Across all sports that I collect (which is most sports) if a player appears in the base set of more than one release in a given card year, then that player's base card in each release is considered a RC. In other words, there is no one "true RC" for that player--the player has different RCs to choose from.

So Diana Ordonez, for example, has a RC in the Parkside 2022 regular set, and also has a RC in the Paramount set.

Another typical rule for RCs is that only base set cards are RCs. This means if the player has a card in one of the insert subsets, i.e., Hyped, Promising Prospects, Sirkel, etc., then that is not considered a RC. Same goes for parallels of the base card, such as black and white, foil, shimmer, etc. Even the card manufacturers don't agree on these "rules". Topps puts the RC logo on insert cards and base card parallels. Parkside puts the RC logo on base card parallels, but not on insert cards, if I recall correctly.

All in all, it's kind of a mess, and you should collect what you like.

[brewtown107]

Regarding the 2021 Parkside set, since that set is the first appearance on a card for most of the players in the set (excluding the handful of veterans who appeared previously in the 2010 or 2011 Upper Deck MLS sets, or in the 2020 Parkside base set, or in other sets for the USWNT or other national teams) most of the cards in the set are RCs. It would probably be an easier task to identify which cards are *not* RCs in that set. It's probably no more than 30 or maybe 40 in the 279 card set (actually 300 card set, but I'm excluding the team cards, crest cards, and the Dash Challenge Cup Champions card.

[DonrussDean]

I broke down and bought a box.. 83.00 with shipping isn't the end of the world being a WS collector, but I am not expecting much in terms of long term value with WS having such a lower collector base.

Anyways, reading the Facebook group I expect these to be available for a while, a lot of blow back for the price and amount you get. Looking at what other sports offer with this type of product the price point isn't bad, but WS has so many casual collectors. I wonder this how many of them will purchase these expecting a full box of packs.

[Crosby 87]

Originally Posted by DonrussDean

I broke down and bought a box.. 83.00 with shipping isn't the end of the world being a WS collector, but I am not expecting much in terms of long term value with WS having such a lower collector base.

Anyways, reading the Facebook group I expect these to be available for a while, a lot of blow back for the price and amount you get. Looking at what other sports offer with this type of product the price point isn't bad, but WS has so many casual collectors. I wonder this how many of them will purchase these expecting a full box of packs.

Read thru a bit and yeah a lot of them are not aware how much packs and boxes can go for in other sports. Some will also not be happy when they open and aren't getting what they want and then can't resell for the full amt back

[jjcan]

If Parkside had these pictures I am all in.


https://swimsuit.si.com/swimsuit/mod...an-2019-photos

[Zankyman17]

How small or large was the production for the 2011 Panini Women’s World Cup Stickers?

[brewtown107]

I saw someone on I.G. post about the 2011 Panini Women's WC sticker set, and she said the print run was 5.5 million packets, released only in Germany. According to her source (uncited), the first run of 4.5 million packets sold out in 2 weeks, so they released another 1 million packet run on the eve of the tournament.

Edit: this is a relatively small release, apparently, as Panini Sticker releases go. Apparently men's WC stickers are released worldwide in the high tens or hundreds of millions of packets.

In her opinion, this will be a "1986 Fleer Basketball" type set in the long run. I could not disagree more. But differences in opinion make the world go round!

[Zankyman17]

Originally Posted by brewtown107

I saw someone on I.G. post about the 2011 Panini Women's WC sticker set, and she said the print run was 5.5 million packets, released only in Germany. According to her source (uncited), the first run of 4.5 million packets sold out in 2 weeks, so they released another 1 million packet run on the eve of the tournament.

Edit: this is a relatively small release, apparently, as Panini Sticker releases go. Apparently men's WC stickers are released worldwide in the high tens or hundreds of millions of packets.

In her opinion, this will be a "1986 Fleer Basketball" type set in the long run. I could not disagree more. But differences in opinion make the world go round!

Thanks for the response. I actually found the article that references the initial 4.5 million packet run and the subsequent million packs produced.

I’m curious about your opinion on the set? I like it because of the strong USA checklist.

[brewtown107]

I like the set for kids and for engagement with the sport, but I don't see a high ceiling for it in terms of collectability because:

1) It wasn't released in the U.S.

2) It's stickers, not cards. And just mass-produced base. No variety.

3) Most of the best "rookies" in the set---Marta, Christine Sinclair, Alex Morgan---have cards (including certified autos) from around the same time released by Upper Deck. Sam Kerr is the big exception here.

I believe---and again, this is just my opinion, based upon what I like and collect, but also what I see others looking for---it's a very hard sell to get U.S. based card collectors (the folks who bring the high ceiling) to be interested in those self-adhesive stickers that seem very cheap, and that we've been ignoring all these years, when there are card releases from known card companies available from the same time period. Especially given the history the stickers have of being faked, or sticker packets being steamed open, picked through, and resealed. These are problems with the men's stickers as of now, to be sure, but these problems would undoubtedly pop up on the women's side if singles go way up in value.

Totally understand wanting a U.S.A. team set, but 2012 Panini Americana Heroes and Legends is a licensed sports card set that has that covered, and is from the same era with an even larger Team U.S.A. checklist (is missing Ali Krieger, but has all the rest plus Kelley O'Hara, Becky Sauerbrunn, Sydney Leroux, and Lori Lindsey).

The history of releases for women's soccer is so sporadic and decentralized that it might end up being a "whatever card I have is the best card to have" type of situation, with lots of different opinions. Or different releases may be valued for the particular players they have first cards of. Thus, there may be no "1986 Fleer Basketball" kind of set that collectors form a consensus around.

But if there is a consensus, I think it will be focused on cards, not stickers, and will be on a set (or sets) that was packed out in a wide release, open to U.S. consumers, rather than released as a special outside the U.S. (or worse yet, as on-demand singles, where collecting a full set is near impossible).

The best candidates imo are Parkside (I think it was ingenious to put them in Targets and Walmarts nationwide) for the modern group of U.S. players and NWSL based players, and for the Euro players Topps Chrome or *maybe* the Topps Knockout set. Knockout suffers from being an on demand product not released in packs. But it's a Topps product (a card company known to U.S. collectors), you got the full set, and there was a chase element with numbered parallels and autos. And Knockout predates Chrome by a full season, which may be significant to some.

[DonrussDean]

Parkside just posted video of the Huitema auto..

Just going to say, I hope it was just the video they took, cause the edges looked bad and card was so off center.

[whitmm]

Originally Posted by DonrussDean

Parkside just posted video of the Huitema auto..

Just going to say, I hope it was just the video they took, cause the edges looked bad and card was so off center.

I don't think it was the video. They looked rough. And with such a clean design, it's easy to see just how off center the base card was.

I'm guessing it's supposed to be a gold parallel, but looks like a wood card.

I wonder about the longevity of those autos. Blue sharpie on a porous looking card stock? Seems like bleeding and fading are very possible issues as time passes.

[whitmm]

Parkside posted a shot of the Ashley Sanchez autos. I don't know why, but it bugs me that they have an auto list, but different looking cards. Her cards are like a Mont Blanc subset and she's not the only one that will have a background to them.

[DonrussDean]

Does anyone know the shipping date for the Paramount cards? I did buy a second box as a gift and I am worried it won't be here for christmas.

[SpartanNation]

From Parkside's Instagram: "Getting them in hand by the 15th then shipping right after that."

[DonrussDean]

Originally Posted by SpartanNation

From Parkside's Instagram: "Getting them in hand by the 15th then shipping right after that."

Lookalike these won't be here for Christmas..

[brewtown107]

They always seems to have delays receiving their product. So I'm not surprised.

[glassnickels]

Parkside will make their usual excuses I'm sure. They're the most frustrating company.

On a happy note, my PSA grades popped. Pretty bittersweet on that Miedema. Still no real news on her injury. Fingers crossed she can play in the World Cup.

The Smith has been sitting in a binder since I pulled it in 2020. Very happy it got a 9.

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk

[abaseballjunkie]

Originally Posted by glassnickels

Parkside will make their usual excuses I'm sure. They're the most frustrating company.

I mean, at least they communicate with collectors and make things right when they mess up? Unlike Topps for the most part...