10 Soccer Cards to Buy Right Now
Four of my players are on the Ballon d'Or shortlist for the Oct. 26 vote. These are the top 10 soccer cards to buy in October.
Spain beat Argentina 1-0 in extra time to win the World Cup on July 19, and now the soccer card world turns to the Ballon d'Or. Seven of my picks belong to Lamine Yamal, Kylian Mbappé, Lionel Messi and Erling Haaland, and all four made the shortlist for the award. Polymarket makes Harry Kane a 65 percent favorite to win it on Oct. 26, with Yamal second at 29 percent, while Kalshi has them at 64 and 29.5 percent.
You don't need a Maradona budget to start a soccer collection, so the picks run from cheap pickups all the way up to the grails. I checked every price against the card's recent sales through Oct. 12.1
Updated on Oct. 12, 2026.
If you're new to soccer cards, the two big brands split the sport between them. Panini's Prizm World Cup cards show players in their national team colors, so my Messi, Ronaldo and Mbappé Prizm picks all come from World Cup years. Topps Chrome covers the clubs through its Champions League and MLS sets, including Yamal's Barcelona rookie and Sullivan's MLS rookie. Both brands also print each card in shinier, scarcer parallels like Prizm's Silver and Chrome's Refractors, which is why the two high-end Mbappé picks cost so much more than his base Prizm rookie.
What the odds mean for these cards
| If this happens | Polymarket / Kalshi | Cards on this list |
|---|---|---|
| Yamal wins the Ballon d'Or on Oct. 26 | 29.2% / 29.5% | Yamal Topps Chrome PSA 10 Yamal Wonderkids PSA 10 |
| Messi wins the Ballon d'Or | 2.6% / 3% | Messi PSA 9 |
| Mbappé wins the Ballon d'Or | 2.4% / 3.5% | Mbappé Prizm PSA 10 Mbappé Prizm Silver PSA 10 Mbappé Refractor PSA 10 |
| Barcelona win the 2027 Champions League | 22.5% / 24.5% | Yamal Topps Chrome PSA 10 Yamal Wonderkids PSA 10 |
| Real Madrid win the 2027 Champions League | 10.5% / 11.5% | Mbappé Prizm PSA 10 Mbappé Prizm Silver PSA 10 Mbappé Refractor PSA 10 |
| Manchester City win the 2027 Premier League | 19.5% / 21.5% | Haaland PSA 10 |
With Kane the heavy Ballon d'Or favorite and no Kane card on my list, the Oct. 26 vote matters most for Yamal's two cards, since Messi and Mbappé are long shots. After the vote, the Champions League and Premier League races run through the spring, so I'd follow Barcelona's form for Yamal, Real Madrid's for Mbappé and Manchester City's for Haaland.
Budget picks
1. Cavan Sullivan, 2025 Topps Chrome MLS rookie, raw
Raw copies sold at auction for $15.50 USD to $23.50 USD between Oct. 7 and 12.
On Oct. 3, Sullivan became the youngest goal scorer in U.S. men's national team history when he scored in a 3-0 win over Mexico at 17 years and 5 days old. It's a huge moment for a teenager, and at these prices his raw rookie is about as obtainable as a chase card gets.
All of those sales came four to nine days after the goal while the news was still fresh, so I'll be watching his next national team camp closely. The U.S. plays Haiti home and away in the Concacaf Nations League quarterfinals in mid-November, and if that camp doesn't bring Sullivan any minutes, the price could slip back. If he gets on the field and scores again, expect his prices to continue to rise. I like this rookie as a cheap ticket on the next big American star.
2. Lionel Messi, 2022 Prizm World Cup, PSA 9
PSA 9 copies sold at auction for $64 USD to $84.99 USD between Sept. 12 and Oct. 7.
Messi took the Silver Ball at this summer's World Cup, and at these prices any collector can own a graded Prizm of the GOAT.
The MLS playoffs start Nov. 18 with Messi's Inter Miami sitting second in the Eastern Conference. A low finish in the Ballon d'Or vote on Oct. 26 or an early Miami exit could bring some short-term volatility, but Messi's GOAT career is already confirmed, so the only question is how much further he can go.
3. Cristiano Ronaldo, 2014 Prizm World Cup, PSA 9
PSA 9 copies sold for $71 USD to $110 USD between Oct. 2 and 12.
Ronaldo scored his 980th career goal for Al Nassr against Al Diriyah on Oct. 9. At these prices you could own a piece of that countdown, if it weren't for some unfortunate drama over the past few weeks.
He could retire or stall before goal No. 1,000, and even if he gets there, the milestone is likely already priced in. The drama with Portugal adds another wrinkle after its federation opened disciplinary proceedings against him on Oct. 9 for walking out of the national team camp, which is punishable with a ban of one to six months under the federation's rules. He apologized in a statement and said he would serve any suspension, which could slow his march to 1,000.
Mid-range picks
4. Lamine Yamal, 2023-24 Topps Chrome rookie, PSA 10
Nine PSA 10 copies sold for $389.19 USD to $559.96 USD between Oct. 1 and 11.
After winning the World Cup with Spain, Yamal said he deserves the Ballon d'Or "because of what I've won," and that's the swagger I want from a player I'd build a modern soccer collection around. His rookie comes from Topps Chrome's 2023-24 UEFA Club Competitions set. As of Oct. 12, PSA had graded 2,529 copies a 9 and 2,159 a 10, so I'd pay up for the 10, the scarcer of the two grades.
If the Ballon d'Or goes to Kane on Oct. 26, the World Cup premium could come out of the price, though I'd buy that dip on a player with years of Ballon d'Or runs ahead of him.
5. Lamine Yamal, 2023-24 Topps Chrome Wonderkids, PSA 10
Nine PSA 10 copies sold for $211.50 USD to $299.99 USD between Aug. 22 and Oct. 8.
Wonderkids is a young-stars insert from the same 2023-24 set as his rookie, and I like it as a cheaper way into Yamal.
If his Chrome rookie falls after the Oct. 26 vote, expect this insert to fall right along with it. With PSA counting 1,488 copies graded a 9 and 1,439 graded a 10 as of Oct. 12, the 10 is barely rarer than the 9, so I'd stretch for the 10.
6. Erling Haaland, 2019-20 Topps Chrome Champions League, PSA 10
Seven PSA 10 copies sold at auction for $385 USD to $505 USD between Aug. 23 and Oct. 11.
This PSA 10 is a blue-chip soccer card I'd be happy to hold for years, even after his scare with Norway on Oct. 4. He was seen limping that day before he asked to come off in the 67th minute of Norway's 2-1 Nations League loss to Portugal. Norway coach Ståle Solbakken blamed his workload, but Haaland looked like himself on Oct. 11 when he scored the first goal in Manchester City's 3-0 win at Liverpool and played 80 minutes. Bidders weren't worried either, with two of those seven copies sold after his scare on Oct. 4.
7. Kylian Mbappé, 2018 Prizm World Cup rookie, PSA 10
Eleven PSA 10 copies sold for $240 USD to $275 USD between Sept. 24 and Oct. 12. The low end was a Fanatics Collect auction sale. Just shows that for the patient buyer, you can snag some savings on your favorite cards.
Mbappé won the Golden Boot at this summer's World Cup with 10 goals to become the first player to win it twice. This is the Mbappé rookie I'd want in my PC.
PSA had graded 4,084 copies of this card a 10 as of Oct. 12, so if an auction runs past $275 USD, I'd let it go and wait for the next copy to come up.
High-end picks
8. Kylian Mbappé, 2018 Prizm World Cup Silver rookie, PSA 10
PSA 10 copies sold at auction for $1,586 USD to $2,326 USD between Sept. 27 and Oct. 8.
For high-end Mbappé collectors, this is the rookie to chase. Of the 739 Silvers PSA had graded as of Oct. 12, only 319 earned a 10, against 4,084 base copies in the same grade. That's real scarcity for one of the best footballers of this generation.
I'd bid near the low end of that range rather than chase the top, because the most recent sales have been trending down instead of breaking to new all-time highs.
9. Kylian Mbappé, 2017-18 Topps Chrome Champions League Refractor, PSA 10
Two PSA 10 copies sold at auction on Alt for $2,551.20 USD and $2,554.80 USD in September.
This Refractor is a true grail for Mbappé collectors, with 244 copies graded a 10 by PSA as of Oct. 12, against 1,521 PSA 10s of the base card.
The price has slipped since a copy sold at auction for $2,826 USD on July 28, after the World Cup final. If the Ballon d'Or vote on Oct. 26 pushes it lower still, I'd be a buyer on a card this scarce.
10. Diego Maradona, 1979-80 Panini Calciatori, PSA 8
No soccer top 10 is complete without Maradona. Three PSA 8 copies sold at auction for $4,920 USD to $5,139 USD from July through Aug. 16.
For a player of Maradona's stature, a PSA 8 of this sticker is a vintage grail worth saving up for. As of Oct. 12, PSA had graded 449 copies, with 58 earning an 8, 16 a 9 and a single 10. At the sub 5k price point, the Maradona PSA 8 is the grade I'd stretch for.
With no PSA 8 sold since Aug. 16, I'd be patient and hold out for the next auction, since fixed-price listings for this card run well above what the auctions sold for.
By next month's update, we'll know who won the Ballon d'Or and what it did to these cards.
Notes
- Prices are completed sales on eBay, Fanatics Collect, Goldin and Alt, checked on Oct. 12, 2026, against the recent sales recorded for each card at the same grade. Fanatics Collect, Goldin and Alt auction prices include the buyer's premium. Sales priced in Canadian dollars are shown at eBay's conversion. Prediction-market odds are from Polymarket and Kalshi, read between 10:07 and 10:13 a.m. Pacific on Oct. 12. The Yamal, Mbappé and Maradona population counts are from PSA's population report as compiled by GemRate on Oct. 12, 2026, and leave out autographed copies. ↩
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