2023-24 Topps Finest UEFA is here with a new spot in the release schedule and a new box configuration. It’s the first Topps UEFA hobby product of the 2023-24 release calendar so there is some excitement that hasn’t been there in the past when it came after other products. Take a look at the review below to see what you can expect.
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2023-24 Topps Finest UEFA Soccer Cards Breakdown
Checklist – HERE
Box Makeup – Hobby (Search On Ebay) – 10 packs, 6 cards, 2 autos, ~5 # parallels
Print Run – ~8000 cases
Rookie Breakdown – Read the full 2023-24 Topps rookie card breakdown
SoccerCardsHQ Review – Topps did a solid job with the checklist in 2023-24 Topps Finest UEFA. That is largely due to the fact that the dual autos/rival autos make sense, which hasn’t always been the case. The Finest Idols checklist is also strong with legends. It’s also the 1st Topps hobby product with Vitor Roque rookie cards and autos (Search On Ebay). The idea of hitting a Vitor rookie was more exciting a few months ago than it is now, but I am sure he will still be a chase. The strength of a Topps checklist these days usually comes down to any new rookies, inserts and dual autos since we get the same players in so many different sets. I do think people aren’t taking into account how much it hurts not having Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo in the base checklist. Topps managed to get them in as variations in 2023-24 Topps UEFA Flagship but they do not make the base checklist in Finest. Will be interesting to see how that plays out in future releases.
The fact Topps have so many UEFA products and the amount of each they print means the base checklist is almost irrelevant. Each base card in 2023-24 Topps Finest UEFA has 1850 numbered parallels. That is obviously way too many for the current market. There are roughly 8000 cases of Finest and it is a bit discouraging. I had thought/hoped that Topps saw the current market and was going to reduce the print runs for 2023-24 products. 2022-23 Topps Finest UEFA had roughly 500 less cases so that was wishful thinking. At these high print runs a product needs to be far more desired than Finest is to be able to sustain prices. I believe one of the things that holds Finest back each year is the base design. It’s really hard to make a full bleed card that isn’t desirable, but Topps have found a way with the clip art effects they use. I assume the use of those patterns and colors is to appeal to a different audience than what attracts collectors to other more traditional sets. It is fine to try something different, but so far the market has made it clear that there aren’t enough people right now who want to collect it.
Since Finest has 2 autos per box the auto checklist is important. As I mentioned earlier Topps did a really good job with the dual autos. One weird thing about the dual autos is if the odds are correct, it will be harder to hit a base version than a Gold or Orange. The Rivals auto are a nice touch. it appears that 1 of the cards will only have a Super and a Red /5 so I would assume that would be the Lionel Messi-Cristiano Ronaldo. They also added Marks of Excellence on-card autos (Search On Ebay) for 4 players including Jude Bellingham. These on-card auto do not look like finest cards. Honestly, they look more like Museum cards. For that reason, I am wondering if they show up in other Topps sets this year. Marks of Excellence was a name used by Topps in the early 2000’s for baseball and basketball so who knows. There’s an 8 player rookie booklet that I believe only has Red /5 and Superfractor 1/1. Topps went back to the Messi-Ronaldo dual auto for the ultimate chase. 2023-24 Topps Finest UEFA is also the first Topps product to have Zlatan Ibrahimovic autos (Search On Ebay). Unless you are an Inter Milan fan who also loves the Finest design, I wouldn’t be in a rush to buy Zlatan autos. He is going to be in a lot of products this year both Topps and Panini. With the base auto checklist having 90 players and only about 10 or so of those being chases there will be a lot of boxes where getting 2 autos won’t matter. I watched a case break and the best auto was Darwin Nunez just to give you an idea.
The inserts are pretty strong in 2023-24 Topps Finest UEFA. Prized Football and The Man return from last year. With Prized Footballers returning that means Prized Football Fusions make a return as case hits. With there being 350+ of each they have lost a little bit of their luster. It appears The Man inserts are much harder to hit this year than last although the print run on the base is still ~100 so they aren’t exactly rare but much better than ~400 of last year. The Top Of The World design seems to be one you love or hate. I don’t think there are many out there who like the First Class Rookies design. It reminds me of when Topps used the Framed Rookie Stickers a few years ago. There are 5 more hidden gems with a Lionel Messi Barcelona and Jude Bellingham Real Madrid card being two that have appeared so far. Those should be a good chase. There is a Topps Total Football card that you can scratch off and use in the game. There is also the Comebacks insert which supposedly highlights some of the biggest comeback in Champions League history but they botched the Liverpool-AC Milan card so that’s not great.
The 2 inserts that should be the most desired are The Grail (Search On Ebay) and Finest Idols (Search On Ebay). There are 2 of the 9 Cristiano Ronaldo The Grail cards if you are chasing that prize. The reduced print run and prize aspect have made these very desirable so far. The cards in Finest that interest me the most are the Finest Idols. We saw the debut of the insert with Lionel Messi in 2023 Topps Finest MLS. These cards are full bleed and have done well. The checklist for this set is very strong with a mix of current stars and legends. These will be tough to hit and that is a good thing in my opinion. There are ~35 Bronze, ~18 Silver and ~10 Gold. That means the odds of hitting any of them are ~1 in 14 cases. I also hope that Topps either doesn’t make this a yearly insert or if they do they only make one of each player. Them not including Messi in Finest UEFA gives me some hope of that.
In the end I think 2023-24 Topps Finest UEFA suffers the same problem that most new Topps products do, there’s just way too much of it. The sentiment I have been getting the most is good checklist, bad design. I tend to agree with that. These days design is more important than checklist in my opinion. That was made perfectly clear with the Gold Kaboom disaster in 2023-24 Donruss Soccer. As soccer collectors we have so many options now of what to collect. If there isn’t a general consensus that a product is good then it tends to suffer. That was apparent with Topps Pristine. Topps will be releasing these at $190. Considering that last years boxes sell for around $150 and this seems to be a better product that price doesn’t seem ridiculous. If you like to rip there are definitely worse buys out there. After watching a few case breaks I just don’t see $1500+ a case with how many cases there are being great value. If you haven’t read my approach to all 2023-24 soccer card releases it kind of explains my position on most of these new sets.
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