A recent soccer card auction, timed to the start of the 2026 FIFA World Cup, saw several individual player records set for Argentina’s Lionel Messi, Norway’s Erling Haaland, United States’ Christian Pulisic and even England legend David Beckham.
But the highlight of auction house Goldin’s 2026 Global Football Auction was a 1958 Alifabolaget Pele rookie card, which sold for $976,000, the most ever paid for a Pele card at auction.
The all-time record for a Pele card was the $1.33 million paid for a different copy of the same Pele card — both graded 9s by card grader Professional Sports Authenticator (PSA) — in a 2022 private sale, the first soccer card to break $1 million.
Despite Resolution Photomatching only declaring a “possible” match — and the auction lot stating “the signatures present on these cleats were unable to be verified by a third-party authenticator” — purportedly Messi’s signed Nike Air Zoom T90 III cleats worn in his October 16, 2004 first team debut for Barcelona sold for $201,300, which mark the most ever sold for a pair of soccer cleats at public auction.
A collector paid $610,000 for the one-of-one numbered 2019-20 Topps Chrome Bundesliga Autographs Erling Haaland Superfractor, the most ever paid for a Haaland card. The previous high was $432,000 paid for the same card, also at Goldin, in June 2021.
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Christian Pulisic’s one-of-one numbered 2016-17 Panini Select Signatures Black Prizm card sold for $113,460, shattering the previous record paid for a Pulisic card: $22,500 in 2022. (Another Pulisic card, also numbered one-of-one and autographed, sold for $25,620 in the same auction over the weekend.)
And although his bending days are behind him, David Beckham’s one-of-one numbered 2025 Panini Prizm FIFA Club World Cup Green Kaboom! card sold for $109,800, more than quadrupling the previous high ($23,790 in October of last year) paid for a Beckham card.
