The BEST Lionel Messi cards for every budget!

Over the last 12 months we have seen meteoric rises in the soccer card market with top names such as Lamine Yamal, Kylian Mbappe and Cristiano Ronaldo all seeing significant shifts in their card values. None have been more dramatic however than that of the greatest to ever do it, Lionel Messi. We’ve seen record highs set for plenty of Messi cards including his rookies, case hits and early match worn patch autos. 

Given that Messi’s market has never been stronger - this presents us with a new challenge. What are the best value Lionel Messi cards that you can pick up for your money? If you’re looking to just start to build out your collection or you are new to soccer cards, what are the top budget picks? What if you are looking to add your first Messi auto as a centerpiece to your collection? And what are the best picks for the big spenders looking to own a grail of the GOAT? 

We’ve covered all of this below taking into account everything we possibly can and tried to include all different types of cards, but it is important to remember that these articles are a snapshot in time. Sports cards are speculative and beholden to many factors, so when looking to purchase a card, make sure you love it for your own reasons - this article does not constitute financial advice. 

Best Lionel Messi Card under $10

2013 Icons Messi Limited Collection Lionel Messi #15

Forewarning now, there will be multiple references throughout this article towards focusing on iconic moments and the historical significance of imagery on cards. 2013 Icons is an underappreciated set amongst collectors, there were two releases of this in Europe & Japan and information on them isn’t the easiest to come by. These cards are base (1/1 parallels do exist) and there are tons of great ones so we’ve picked one with our favorite image that can be bought for the same price as a Starbucks coffee. The card features Messi with an iconic celebration kissing his boot after scoring what he described as the favorite goal he ever scored, a header against Manchester United in the Champions League final.

 

Best Lionel Messi Card under $50

2022-23 Topps Finest UEFA Lionel Messi Prized Footballers Fusion Blue & Red /50

Using every last bit of the budget with this one but an opportunity that feels too good to pass up on! This is a case hit numbered to 50 from the season where Leo won the Ballon D’Or (yes Haaland probably should’ve won it) and it is a pseudo-color match on top of that. Messi’s PSG cards have never stacked up well against his Barcelona or Argentina variants, but this feels like too good of a price for a card like this - you won’t find many numbered case hit Messi’s for this price tag. 

 

Best Lionel Messi Card under $100

2015 Panini Select Lionel Messi Blue Prizm /299 - National Pride, Equalizers, Ultimate Team

Three different options here, all from the same set, all within the same budget - you can choose which is your favorite. 2015 Select is the inaugural release of the brand and one of the very first major chrome stocks we had for soccer cards, following up the iconic 2014 Prizm. National Pride is my personal favorite, though you can go with Equalizers if you want a celebration snapshot or Ultimate Team for a full action image. Alternatively, if you want a traditional base card from this set the Camo /249 can also be had for under $100 - we’re just suckers for a blue color match. Bear in mind - this set is condition sensitive so finding a clean/gradeable copy will cost significantly more in most circumstances.

 

Best Lionel Messi Card under $250

2018 Donruss Lionel Messi Optic Red Velocity /50 (PSA 9 or clean raw)

This set has finally been getting some deserved recognition as of late, with a true gold /10 PSA 9 selling for a mouthwatering $25,200 in the most recent Fanatics Weekly Auction. This is one of my favorite budget cards - the color in this set looks fantastic on these cards in hand. There are not many /50 or less Messi cards from his playing days at Barcelona, making this a bit of a hidden gem. If you’re desperate for a PSA 10, the Green Velocity /200 has multiple sales in the same price range. 

 

Best Lionel Messi Card under $500

2022 Panini Prizm World Cup Lionel Messi National Pride (PSA 9 or clean raw)

We’re getting to the point where there are lots of options for each budget, with the flexibility of $500 there are lots of different directions we can go in. We’ve opted for the National Pride case hit from 2022 Panini World Cup Prizm, an incredibly important set for Leo collectors given it is the one where Messi and Argentina finally won the World Cup. Not everyone will love the horizontal design, but this might be the best value Messi card from one of his most important sets. The insert set has a 56% gem rate (PSA 10 is pop 61) so may be worth grading if you find a clean copy!

 

Best Lionel Messi Card under $1,000

2004 Panini Sports Mega Cracks Campio Lionel Messi #35 (PSA 5+)

This will probably be contentious for some, and I’m not trying to turn this into a Messi Rookie debate article. These have jumped recently but this is still a really significant rookie card and prices still fluctuate heavily. PSA 5’s have been around 650 recently, so if you can get something better than that for under the target price then that feels pretty good. With this card specifically, the breakpoints that feel best are the 8 (significant jump up after to the PSA 9) and the 5 (the falloff from 5 to 3 is not significant). We prefer the Campio edition given the rarity and population counts as opposed to the Campeones.

Best Lionel Messi Card under $2,500

2014 Panini Prizm World Cup Lionel Messi/Cristiano Ronaldo Blue Prizm /199

Alright, we’re cheating - technically there are two players on this card. Fortunately, they happen to be two of the greatest players of all time and the card is from the most iconic soccer set. This card doesn’t need too much explanation, it has been popular for over a decade now. Messi and Ronaldo feature on very few cards together despite their legacies being somewhat intertwined with one another. There is a recent high comp on one, but there are sales in the last few months that fall under the $2,500 threshold. We did consider some autograph cards in this range, but there is nothing that really ticks all the right boxes at this price point for us.

 

Best Lionel Messi Card under $5,000

2018 Panini Prizm World Cup Lionel Messi National Landmarks

This was a really hard bracket to figure out the best pricing for. Finding a hard-signed, match-worn patch auto was the goal but there is only one option - Dynasty 22/23 and it is the PSG kit. There are on-card Inter Miami autos in that range but those also don’t have the appeal of Barcelona or Argentina. 2018 Eminence and National Treasures fit, but they have a much bigger problem, the likelihood of the autographs not actually being Messi’s himself. 

Ultimately, I went with a card that I think will stand the test of time. I love Kabooms but the market for these has gone bananas lately. They are still possible but the ones I would want (2017 & 2018) are really difficult to find in the budget. Ultimately, the 2018 National Landmarks is a Downtown equivalent that many love. I wish they hadn’t made another one for 2024 Prizm Copa, but the 2018 variant card is still awesome. 

 

Best Lionel Messi Card under $10,000

2016 Panini Noir Lionel Messi Legendary Signatures /60

I really wanted to include an autograph option in the list. I would say this is close between a 2022-23 Dynasty Barcelona kit auto and these beautiful Noir hard signed cards. Noir just re-released, and Messi does feature again but the designs don’t hold up as well as the 2016 versions. The black and white contrasting images look amazing in hand.