2024-25 Topps Finest UEFA is here with a new spot in the release schedule from last year. Last year it was the first premium hobby Topps soccer card release of the 2023-24 calendar. This year it follows 2024-25 Topps Chrome UEFA and Sapphire. That could hurt the initial excitement about the product some as Chrome and Sapphire are more desired products . Take a look at the review below to see what you can expect.
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2024-25 Topps Finest UEFA Soccer Cards Breakdown
Checklist – HERE
Box Makeup – Hobby (Search On Ebay) – 10 packs, 6 cards, 2 autos, ~4 # parallels
Print Run – ~9500 cases
Soccer Cards HQ Review – As we have seen with other Topps 2024-25 soccer card products the print run of 2024-25 Topps Finest UEFA is almost 20% higher than last year. Despite that Topps dropped the number of numbered base parallels from 1850 last year to 1722 this year. The increased print run and lower number of parallels is why there is roughly one less numbered card per box this year. That is on top of the obvious which is there aren’t Lamine Yamal rookie cards in this year. I will say that has mattered way less than I thought so far as his second year prices are higher than I thought they would be. A lot of the rookie are the same we saw in Chrome. Topps did add a Base Extended Rookie Variations Checklist this year in Finest with some new names. None are going to add much value to the set on release. I haven’t had a chance to add the new Finest rookies into the 2024-25 Topps Rookie Breakdown blog yet but lots of the players you will hit are in there.
The auto checklist does have lots of good names including rookies, legends, Lamine Yamal (Search On Ebay) and Lionel Messi (Search On Ebay) Like Topps has been doing lately the dual auto checklist is very solid with some new combos. Topps brought back the Rivals Dual autos as well. As I have mentioned before for the most part these don’t make much sense to me as collectors probably won’t want one of the two players on the card. Last year at least had a Lionel Messi – Cristiano Ronaldo dual in Rivals. This year I would say the best is Ronaldinho – Zidane. The new Bound By Origin (Search On Ebay) quad autos on the other hand make a lot of sense. They are all players from the same country even though they are in club kits because this is a UEFA product. There are a couple of rookie checklists as well, Arrivals and First Class Rookies. There is also the return of Marks Of Excellence (Search On Ebay) . There is a 7 card MOE checklist and I am sure people will be most excited for the debuts of Marcel Desailly, Shinji Kagawa, Kaka and Gavi. OK maybe not. Two of the biggest chases in the product will be the Lamine Yamal and Lionel Messi Marks Of Excellence cards. If you haven’t been paying attention yes the Lamine Yamal cards will have a RC despite this no longer being his rookie year. Erling Haaland also makes a return to the Marks Of Excellence checklist.
Finest Idols (Search On Ebay) is back this year. It is again a 10 card checklist with mostly legends. Kevin De Bruyne and Robert Lewandowski are the only active players. Only Thierry Henry has a Idols before which I think is a good thing. I am surprised based on the design and print run Idols don’t get more love than they do. There are ~40 Bronze, ~20 Silver and ~10 Gold this year. Prized Footballers is back again which means Prized Footballers Fusion (Search On Ebay) are back as case hits. If you have followed Soccer Cards HQ for a while you know I am a fan of Fusions, especially the early years when the design was better and they were much more rare. With the increase in the number of cases, obviously the print run on these has shot up. There’s a breakdown below of the print run of each. The Man (Search On Ebay) is back this year as well as a roughly 1 in 5 case hit. The print run on these is ~100 this year. There is also only a Superfractor parallel. Last year they had Orange and Red as well. There is only 1 Lionel Messi The Grail (Search On Ebay) card and the print run on those is 50. There is a new all mostly rookie insert called Skillset (Search On Ebay). I do like the design on these unlike the Symphony insert. If you play Topps Total Football there are also physical cards in here that you can redeem for digital cards in the game.
I think for the most part, minus Lamine Yamal rookies of course, the checklist of 2024-25 Topps Finest UEFA is in the same ball park as last year. The Marks Of Excellence cards will keep people excited. My worry, like with the last couple years is the base design. It is even more busy than normal this year. More importantly the parallels don’t pop as much as previously to me. The color is contained within the broader design. At least last year the color went around the design and covered the card. I could be wrong and maybe people won’t mind. but I worry it could hurt values. Design and more importantly desirability because of design can greatly impact prices. Topps is releasing boxes at $200 which feels about right. If people are still paying almost that for 2022-23 boxes than this shouldn’t drop because it’s a better product than that. I would still rather pay the $275-300 that 2023-24 Topps Finest boxes are going for just because of the Lamine Yamal rookie chase.
2024-25 Topps Finest UEFA Prized Footballer Fusion Print Runs
Blue/Gold ~90
Black/Red ~80
Yellow/Red ~65
Purple/Red ~60
Blue/Red ~50
Orange/Red ~40
Green/Red ~30
Pink/Red ~20
Red/Red ~5
Black/Gold ~1 (Search On Ebay)
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