The debate over Lamine Yamal's ‘true' rookie card and its skyrocketing value

New York Times

13 hours ago

Over the past year, at the age of just 17, Barcelona's Lamine Yamal has almost won it all. A Euro 2024 trophy with Spain, Best Young Player at the Ballon d'Or ceremony, Copa del Rey and La Liga titles. After his impressive breakout season, he signed a new six-year contract that could be worth nearly $45m a year. All of which has propelled one of his rookie cards in gem-mint condition to go from selling for $200 to $10,000 over the last six months. Or has it?
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Since Yamal's historic La Liga debut in April 2023, trading card manufacturers Panini and Topps have produced a variety of rookie cards from their respective FIFA, UEFA, and La Liga sets. From over 20 sets across 18 months, there's been thousands of Yamal trading cards printed with a rookie card 'RC' logo on them. But there is often only one deemed an athlete's 'true' rookie card that collectors gravitate towards, and the chosen one for Yamal has a bit of intrigue to it.
Common sense would suggest that the very first Yamal trading card released in August 2023, the 'Master Rookie' insert found in Panini's 2023-24 Megacracks La Liga 1st Edition boxes, would automatically be the one. It's a card currently selling for around $700 in the best condition, a PSA 10 on the leading grading company's scale, but that's not what's proved most sought-after. Nor is it his second released card one month later by Topps to commemorate his Champions League debut, Topps Now UCL #9, which would set you back $100 in the highest grade. It's the third printed Yamal rookie card, from Panini's 2023-24 Megacracks 3rd Edition boxes released in October 2023. It's known as the '#108BIS' (we'll come back to why those three letters are important later).
This week, a #108BIS in PSA 10 condition sold for $10,000 on eBay, raising eyebrows after 56 sales in 2024 averaged just $350, and reached as low as $201 just six months ago. It looks to be no fluke either, with another auction due to end this weekend, seeing bids upwards of $7,000. So are those who purchased the card last year for a fraction of these current prices now looking at a big pay day? Collectors on social media are split, with claims ranging from accusations of shill bidding (where groups of collectors who own the card bid up the price, but don't actually pay, in order to make it appear more valuable than it actually is in the hopes that someone else will pay the inflated price), to money laundering, to poor financial decisions, to genuine belief that the young soccer star is indeed the next Lionel Messi.
CardLadder, which tracks trading card sales across multiple marketplaces, has verified sales (i.e. proof of payment versus auction house final hammer prices) for sales up to $7,500, however the $10,000 sale is still yet to be verified. The winning bidder's account had zero feedback (suggesting it's a new account with limited or no previous transactions), which raises suspicion, however the card has not yet been relisted. The Athletic have also had confirmation of transactions upwards of $5,000.
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One seller who sold his card earlier this year for $1,700 described receiving payment as 'unfortunate' in hindsight, after feeling that they had sold the card too early. So, after proven four-figure sales, how did the third card produced become the most in demand? It's one part population, one part historical precedent, and one part learning from its past mistakes.
Verified sales of Yamal's #108BIS card over the last six months. (Chart: CardLadder)
'I know there's a lot of skepticism around how this card skyrocketed, but Panini Megacracks are not actually great quality cards,' said a Yamal collector named Tomás, who recently sold a Yamal #108BIS. 'Getting a top PSA 10 grade is so difficult, it's like finding the holy grail. Last year I purchased around 150 fresh from the pack and only 66 I deemed good enough to be submitted to PSA. Just 12 came back a PSA 10'.
In simple terms, the card is largely printed with defects, which make it tough to achieve the best possible grade. Currently one in five cards sent to PSA are awarded the top Gem Mint 10 rating, with a total population as of writing sitting at 198.
'People are now submitting hundreds of them aiming for a 10,' Tomás said.
This card condition concern hasn't stopped people from buying boxes of 2023 Megacracks La Liga, which now resell for upwards of $800 after an initial recommended retail price of $28. The gem rate (percentage of cards that earn a top grade) is the lowest for any of the early Yamal rookie cards, which points to one reason why this card has grown exponentially in price.
'His first Megacracks card, the Master Rookie, has over 1,300 PSA 10 grades, thus it looks like the hobby picked this card (#108BIS) as the True Rookie as it was with Messi's BIS back in 2004,' said Tomás.
The word 'bis' in Italian means encore. Founded in Italy, Panini added BIS cards (i.e. an update set that comes later in the season) to La Liga Megacracks boxes after the first edition had been released, which is why the #108BIS can only be found in third edition boxes.
Three years before Yamal was born, Lionel Messi's Barcelona rookie card was released and there was no debate about it. By the third edition of Panini's 2004 Megacracks, there was just one Messi trading card, the #71BIS, where a PSA 10 grade most recently sold for $312,000 via Fanatics Collect (19 in existence, with a gem rate of just 2%).
There's something charming about the Spanish star's GOAT comparisons on the pitch and the connection between Megacracks BIS trading cards, and it's certainly not lost on collectors.
Yamal's Barcelona team-mate Ansu Fati provides a cautionary tale of how the card market can move in the opposite direction. After scoring seven goals in 24 La Liga appearances in his 2019-20 debut season that began when he was still 16 years old, Fati's first Megacracks BIS PSA 10 hit the market with an initial sale of $1,775. Sales continued to rise up to a high of $5,100 in February 2021. Three months prior to that, he had suffered a torn meniscus, ruling him out for the entire season. Since then, his career has failed to live up to expectations, and the same card sold this April for just $90.
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Given that precedent, collectors would be forgiven for being cautious about the latest hyped soccer star, which points to why the #108BIS PSA 10 had an initial sale of $269, far less than where Fati's opened. Now Yamal's accolades match the early promise he showed when running onto the Camp Nou pitch aged just 15, the prices look to be adjusting in line with levels for stars across sports. It's not just this card that's taken off; in March his one-of-one autographed superfractor sold for $136,000 via Goldin. His 1/1s have collectively amassed over $500,000 in sales.
As the $10,000 sale remains uncertain, what next for the #108BIS? Yamal is the bookmakers' second favorite behind Ousmane Dembele to win the 2025 Ballon d'Or, but his performance against France in the Nations League semi-finals on Thursday will only boost his odds. Next is a date in the final on Sunday against Cristiano Ronaldo's Portugal.
'I guess that at some point this summer (Yamal's card market) will calm down and settle, but with France vs. Spain it very well could continue to rise. I don't think it will drop dramatically with the Ballon d'Or awards in September and then the World Cup next year. I'm getting so many inquiries from collectors in America asking if this one (#108BIS) is a good investment and I think it's a one-of-a-kind card to own,' said Tomás.
Buyers should do their due diligence when seeking a rare Yamal rookie card. Last week an auction for a Champions League rookie card limited to just 25 in existence ended with a sold price of $12,119. Five days later the exact card was relisted for auction after going unpaid. Anyone bidding now could be led to believe that type of card is worth 12 grand without reviewing the serial number. Circles of collectors who own high-value cards of specific players have been accused of pumping prices over the years, creating a false economy where potential new owners could be burdened with a market price that's unsustainable and destined to make a loss. But even with an influx of Yamal #108BIS cards in the PSA grading queue, at its current 20% gem rate, there would need to be over 5,000 submitted to reach the high populations of the first two Yamal rookies, so this Megacracks BIS card may well hold strong long term as long as Yamal continues to deliver on the pitch. If a select few have cornered the #108BIS market, however, then maybe the Master Rookie is a safer buy after all.
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