Top 5 Retail Soccer Products of All Time!
We’re back again and this week we’ve gone from our favourite high-end boxes all the way to the top retail soccer products. Finding soccer cards in your local store’s retail section has always been a challenge, and even more so to find the gems in the rough! We’ve looked at everything from hit rate, potential ceiling, value for money and rookie class to help us determine what the best soccer card retail products of all time are. We’ve only made one rule - it’s only possible to have one year of a set (otherwise yes, I would probably have Merlin appear multiple times!)
Honorable Mention - 2020-21 Panini Chronicles Soccer Fat Packs
Alright, hear me out - you see a fat pack mentioned and you immediately think I’ve lost it. These were a sneaky hidden gem especially if you could find them on discount, which was not uncommon back in the day. Numbered cards were possible, with Blue Astro /16 being the chases and there are rookies for players like Raphinha, Pedri and Fede Valverde. These blue astros are difficult to find now, given this wasn’t a particularly popular product! On top of that, non-numbered versions of the Gala SSP hit (usually #/d to 8) were possible too.
5. 2017 Panini Select Hangers
2017 Panini Select is a great set from a hobby perspective and actually got a retail release alongside it! The hangers can be a pretty tough rip as the hit rate is not the greatest, but there are legitimately some huge cards possible - including Kylian Mbappe rookies. In the Clutch cards are possible, ranging from Camo /20 down to Black 1/1 - the Messi Black 1/1 actually finished on Goldin this week! Most importantly, the first ever soccer Kaboom inserts are possible to hit though they are exceedingly rare.
4. 2024 Panini Donruss Blasters
This was a toss-up between 2023 and 2024 for this selection, the elusive numbered Kabooms were possible in each year. 2023 has Lamine Yamal, 2024 has the ‘full bleed’ Kaboom style that is definitively preferred by collectors. Autographs and numbered hits are still also a possibility, with pink velocity and gold vinyl 1/1’s possible to hit! 2024 won the coin toss for us - as we actually featured someone who hit the Andrea Pirlo 1/1 from a blaster on Instagram. Let us know which you prefer, 2023 or 2024!
3. 2022 Panini Prizm World Cup Blasters
This was a product you probably saw plenty of back in 2022 - there was a ton of it. Numbered cards are possible in the form of purple-wave and blue-wave parallels - and the incredible 1/1 Gold Power Prizms. One of our friends actually pulled the Kylian Mbappe 1/1 from a blaster (whilst buying socks and diapers from Walmart!) and went on to sell it making it one of the biggest hits ever from a soccer retail box! Beyond those top ceiling chases, blasters can also have National Landmarks, Manga and Color Wheel case hits inside. These can be a rough rip but the potential upside is unparalleled on this list.
2. 2023-24 Topps Chrome UCC Blasters
This may be a surprising inclusion to some, given that 2020-21 is preferred by many to be their favorite Chrome retail release. This is again a case of the ceiling giving 2023-24 the edge - with Topps including the Marks of Excellence on card autographs as a long shot chase, which of course can feature rookie prodigy Lamine Yamal. You get 1 numbered card per box, chrome autographs are possible and we saw more than a fair share of superfractors come out of these boxes.
1. 2023-24 Topps Merlin UCC Blasters
Everyone knew this was coming, the only tricky part was deciding which year. Earlier years like 2020-21 and 2021-22 we definitely prefer the design, the way the color pops, and numbered Renaissance were possible. In the later years, we’ve seen autographs become more common, and the inclusion of retail exclusive hits. We’ve given 2023-24 the edge for these reasons; Yamal Rookie Chase, Merlin Gamers exclusive inserts (which we’ve grown to love over time), and the Marks of Excellence possibility.
Let us know which year is your favorite year of Merlin, and which retail products we should have included on the list!