The Soccer Card Collective

Travis @harrykanecards joined me this week to discuss why he abandoned collecting prospects and faded the hype in the market to supercollect Harry Kane. Lots of insights and vibes in the discussion of the state of the Harry Kane market and what it can tell us about the soccer card space at large.

I'm joined by Damian ⁨@retrosoccercards⁩ for a conversation about collecting soccer cards before the explosion of this hobby niche. He has been a dedicated collector of Premier League cards since he first started collected with Topps Premier Gold 2003. The mindset and joy he finds collecting were cultivated in a time before there were big chases. It was about completion and binders preserving his memories and the history of the league in card form. As the landscape began to shift in 2013 with modern parallels, he retained his soul as a set collector and evolved his approach as the soccer card hobby's popularity has blossomed.

Noah ( ⁨@Noahcollectssoccer⁩ ) joins me for a conversation about what draws him to soccer cards and stickers that some may call oddballs. The rarity and context of these cards can bring extra meaning and nostalgia, especially for soccer fans of the 90s and 00s.

Dan (@dreamcast_cards on IG) and I discuss the draw to jersey numbered cards and how it draws in serious card collectors. We tug on multiple other threads related to serial numbering, post-playing days collecting and what makes a set meaningful going into the future.

It was a treat to be joined for a discussion about soccer card collecting philosophy with Bryan from the @cajuncardboard channel to get a view through the lens of an experienced 90s basketball collecting, most famously Michael Jordan, into his journey into serious soccer card collecting.

I discuss the recent auction sales of 2014 Panini Prizm World Cup 1/1 Samba and Black parallels at Goldin Elite auctions. I share my thoughts and opinions on these sales and what they might mean for the soccer card collecting space going forward.

Matt from The PreMo Podcast joined me this week for a conversation about the Pre-Modern Space in Soccer/Football Collecting, its strengths, the factors that hold it back from gaining the same attention as modern cards and the future outlook for this era.

In part 3 of my "Collecting the World Cup" series, I discuss how most modern collectors have heard of the iconic 2014 Panini Prizm World Cup set that ignited the modern soccer (football) collecting era, but I dig into the populations and sales data to highlight how rare and scarce these cards are in the market. And despite some strong sales, the set is still accessible price wise for collectors and can be great place to be for collectors of iconic players in the first modern iconic set.

This episode digs into real-time research discussing "Panini World Cup Cards Before Prizm" and how the visibility and graded population differ between the 1998, 2002, 2006 and 2010 Panini World Cup sets differ. It also digs into the markets of the PSA 10 copies of the most graded players from the sets. These sets serve as previews for the beginning of Panini's reign as the top sports card producer of the 2010s and early 2020s .

Panini Stickers Bridging the Gap Between the Vintage and Modern Eras I delve through a brief history of the Panini World Cup stickers highlighting some of the notable names that I have collected and sharing some of data, including graded population and sales for a select few.

Reflection on the different rules collectors choose to follow as they navigate their collecting. I touch on some rules that are common to the sports cards space in general as well as some that are more unique to soccer card collecting. I go through some of my thoughts behind cards in my collection and how they fit into the rules frameworks that I follow and when I have broken some of my own rules.

After the "Golden Era" ended and the sets and print runs exploded, what are the features of cards that guide the space in their collecting journeys? I dive into some examples of case hits, especially Kabooms, that have stood out from the noise. Does this make sense? I posit some of my theories about why we have seen explosive growth in many of the modern/ultramodern case hits as well as concerns about why the growth may or may not make sense or be sustainable 1, 5 or 10 years from now.

A follow-up discussion to the last episode about the early Panini sets that started to define the modern era of soccer cards collecting dubbed the "Golden Age of Panini Soccer" because of the unique designs and niche "one-off" sets.

A conversation about the paradigm shift in mentality with the "dawn" of the modern era of soccer cards. I dive into the early sets that set the tone for the current modern era and configurations in soccer card collecting.

A discussion of the collecting philosophy and true rarity of the most recognizable stickers and cards from the 90s and 00s

This pilot episode for a project I'm calling "The Soccer Card Collective" dives into the big picture about how I view the eras of soccer sticker and card collecting. Depending on how you want to approach and enjoy the space, you can tailor your journey to what you enjoy about the stickers and cards as they relate to the history of the sport, your nostalgia for teams and players or excitement over up and coming talents. This introduction will lead into deeper dives into the topics of soccer collecting that will hopefully help collectors who are beginning their soccer card collecting journey and lead to discussions within the soccer card community amongst seasoned collectors.