Top Soccer Cards

[Exhibitman]

As a very casual fan I’d go with the names I know: Pele Maradona Di Stefano and I’d like to see some love for Lev Yashin too. The Black Spider deserves to rep the goalies. I was a goalie in soccer and hockey so I like goalies. In hockey I collect Jacques Plante and Glenn Hall.

In terms of cards I love the Heinerle Pele card, the 77 Maradona where he’s practically a kid, the Escenas Deportivas Di Stefano and the 67 Crack Yashin caricature card with him in a spiders web. Used to own three of them but downsizing has taken its toll.

[aljurgela]

He is a top player by most counts. Even the most "light" soccer fans would likely know of him. A miscut version of this card just sold for $2200 a few weeks ago on eBay (292300964718).

His IFFHS rating is #6 overall and World Soccer and Top End Soccer have him at #7 overall - and a pretty rare card.

For those who want to learn more about him:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferenc_Pusk%C3%A1s

[aljurgela]

If we are talking just about the Pele rookies. I used to think that the ALFA was the preferred card, but now I think that I am on the Quigol. The case for the ALFA (for me) was that it was issued in 1958 at the World Cup where he made his international debut (and came into immediate stardom)... it is cardboard (instead of thinner paper) and I loved the photo of him looking confused or angry (or focused) in an absolutely full stadium in the background.

The Quigol has taken on a life of its own. I believe one sold for nearly $15k in and HA auction recently, so it is definitely getting the love! The card design is cool and it is at least "thicker" paper, so it is not as thin as the Titulares. I also like the VAV a lot and it seems to me to be "rarer" than either of the Brazilian issues (Quigol/Titulares - except card #86) or the ALFA, but given that he shares the card with VAVA, it is less desirable than the Quigol or the ALFA.

In the end, I think that the market has voted for the Quigol and I will not really fight that assessment too hard, though I think that any of these 5 cards are great cards/stickers to have.

[aljurgela]

Here are some of my favorites of Yashin... widely considered the best goalkeeper of all time (#11 or World Soccer and Top End... #20 FIFA internet).

Here is more about him:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lev_Yashin

[aljurgela]

Here is the Pele VAV to complete the Pele picture.

[samosa4u]

Originally Posted by Bored5000

The only thing I wondered about was keeping a Mt. Rushmore at just one card per player and going with either the Quigol or the Alifabolaget for Pele. That would open up a Mt. Rushmore spot for something like the '78 Crack Diego Maradona sticker.

When coming up with this list, I had to look at two things: price and popularity. Pele's Quigol and Alifabolaget cards are more popular than the Crack Maradona. Both of these cards also cost a lot more as well. This is the reason why this card did not make the list. Even Pele's Titulares #86 card ranks higher than the Crack Maradona.

As a collector, I am confused as to what we can call a Maradona rookie card. It looks like he had quite a few cards issued in the late 1970s in Argentina. At first I wanted to go after his Crack, but then I saw his 1977 Arg Jrs. disc. By the way, can a little disc even count as a card? It also looks like he has a few other cards from 1978 as well - it's all very confusing! None of them has come out as the winner. At least with Pele, collectors agree that anything of his which was manufactured in 1958 can be considered his rookie.

Originally Posted by aljurgela

In the end, I think that the market has voted for the Quigol

This is true. The Quigol is clearly the winner of the two.

The story behind this card is just crazy though. I was speaking to a big Pele collector and he told me that his Quigol Pele sold for only $20 USD back in 2003 on eBay! I also had a chance to purchase a beautiful PSA 5 example a couple years ago for around $4,000 USD, but I thought the seller was out of his mind - oh, how I regret walking away from it! Anyhow, the value has just exploded over the past few years. Any seller who owns this card, especially in mid to high grade, can ask for big money and get it.

[Peter_Spaeth]

Al -- where does Zidane rank on the various lists you have referenced, or is he too new?

[Arazi4442]

I'm very interested in the opinions on this thread. I'm not a huge soccer fan, though I enjoy it more now, but without the money to pursue the high-end cards of the big 4 sports, I've focused on some of the others, boxing, golf, auto racing, soccer, Olympics, etc.
Peter's mention of Zidane reminded me of how I started making my list of cards to collect. By no means did I use this as my one and only way to create a "want list" but it's a start and created a little discussion when I posted a similar snip on the boxing forum. (BTW, I wasn't familiar with which rankings were considered the best or most prestigious, I just googled "Best Soccer Players Ever" or similar.

[samosa4u]

Peter, are you a Zidane fan? His rookie card is the 1992 Panini (#43). I have a beautiful PSA graded example with razor sharp corners if you’re interested.

[aljurgela]

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

Al -- where does Zidane rank on the various lists you have referenced, or is he too new?

Hey Peter, Zidane is #28 on World Soccer, #28 on Top End Soccer and #9 on the "1-20" FIFA Internet poll, but did not make the FIFA Grand Jury top 10 selection.

Regardless, it is easy to say that he is a top 30 player of all time, in my opinion, and I am definitely a fan of accumulating his rookie card.

[Bored5000]

Originally Posted by samosa4u

When coming up with this list, I had to look at two things: price and popularity. Pele's Quigol and Alifabolaget cards are more popular than the Crack Maradona. Both of these cards also cost a lot more as well. This is the reason why this card did not make the list. Even Pele's Titulares #86 card ranks higher than the Crack Maradona.

As a collector, I am confused as to what we can call a Maradona rookie card. It looks like he had quite a few cards issued in the late 1970s in Argentina. At first I wanted to go after his Crack, but then I saw his 1977 Arg Jrs. disc. By the way, can a little disc even count as a card? It also looks like he has a few other cards from 1978 as well - it's all very confusing! None of them has come out as the winner. At least with Pele, collectors agree that anything of his which was manufactured in 1958 can be considered his rookie.



This is true. The Quigol is clearly the winner of the two.

The story behind this card is just crazy though. I was speaking to a big Pele collector and he told me that his Quigol Pele sold for only $20 USD back in 2003 on eBay! I also had a chance to purchase a beautiful PSA 5 example a couple years ago for around $4,000 USD, but I thought the seller was out of his mind - oh, how I regret walking away from it! Anyhow, the value has just exploded over the past few years. Any seller who owns this card, especially in mid to high grade, can ask for big money and get it.

The explosion in value of the Pele Quigol card is similar to what David Peck talks about elsewhere on the board with regard to the landmark 1982-83 Wrestling All-Stars sets. Peck has mentioned on here before that he bought his first PSA 9 Hulk Hogan card from that set for $50 in 2009 or 2010. The Hogan card is now a $2,500 card in that grade.

Peck also mentions on here often that he never would have believed he would see high-grade commons selling for $1,000 from those sets (the PSA registry is quite a drug ).

I collect far more for fun than as something I hope to make money off of, but that is also at least part of the reason why I love non-sports cards and cards outside the big four sports. There seems to be a lot more possibility of a card exploding in value as new collectors become aware a particular card exists than what there is in baseball cards. The iconic baseball cards of the hobby have been pricey for a long time.

[aljurgela]

Here is one of Matthias Sindelar. As far as I know there are only two graded copies of these, one of the best pre-war forwards ever.

You can learn more about him and how he refused to play for Germany (he was Austrian) and his mysterious death here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthias_Sindelar

IFFHS has him as the 22 best player ever.