2026 Topps Chrome Premier League EPL is back for the first time since Topps made 2018-19 Chrome EPL. Let me just start by saying I really don’t like that they called it 2026 Topps Chrome Premier League EPL instead of 2025-26. This isn’t the first soccer card set that has done this but each time in the past it does cause some confusion. If anything, it should be 2025. What is going to be more confusing is if they fix it and next year is 2026-27 Topps Chrome Premier League. As for this year’s set there is a lot of excitement around it as Fanatics has done a good job of growing and exciting the UK soccer card market in a way that Panini never did. More on that below. If you are getting involved check out the review below to see what you can expect.
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2026 Topps Chrome Premier League Breakdown
Checklist – HERE
Box Makeup – Hobby (Search On Ebay) – 20 packs, 1 Auto , ~4 # cards, 10 Inserts, 4 Prism, 6 Regular Refractors
Blaster (Search On Ebay) – 1 #’d card per box, ~2 autos per case
Print Run – ~ 1,550,000 Hobby packs (~6400 cases), ~275,000 Blasters, ~83,500 Hanger packs, ~1200 Breakers Delight cases, ~300,000 Tin packs, ~19,000 Logofractor boxes
Soccer Cards HQ Review – I expected there to be a lot of 2026 Topps Chrome Premier League EPL produced and Topps did not let me down there. As you can see in the print run numbers above there is a TON of this. There are 3389 numbered parallels of each base card. That is the most ever for a Topps Chrome soccer product. Just to give you an idea of how far we have come the 2018-19 Topps Chrome EPL had a total of 670 numbered base parallels. Also, as a comparison 2024-25 Panini Prizm EPL had 1546 total parallels which is less than half. Sadly, out of all those parallels there is not a Purple Platypus. If you don’t know what that is in reference to make sure you follow my Instagram @SoccerCardsHQ and watch my Walkin With HQ videos.
Let’s talk about the rookies and the wookies in 2026 Topps Chrome Premier League EPL. The big hype is around Max Dowman (Search On Ebay) who was a late add to the checklist and has hit own extended base card in the product which are exclusive to hobby boxes. There was some confusion on release as there were many cases being opened and none of his cards were showing up. Turns out even his base card is very limited falling about 1 in ~69 hobby cases. In total he will have ~91 base to go along with the 91 color refractors. These cards are on paper and not Chrome. To get the Chrome version you have to send in for a replacement. He also has 91 on-card autos which do come on Chrome stock. If all of those autos come in hobby boxes the chance of hitting any Dowman would be ~1 in 23.5 cases. While the base are certainly only in hobby it is not clear about the autos right now. Pay close attention if you are getting involved in breaks with him. Rio Ngumoha (Search On Ebay) is another rookie who gets 91 on-card autos in the set. Rio has a full run of base with non of the paper confusion though. It is great that Topps has made sure to get on-cards of key RCs.
As for the other big chase cards with a RC on them most have had a card in previous years. Some like Shea Lacey and Reigan Heskey this is their rookie because the previous cards were Bowman 1st so that is all good. The mina chase in the product, Estevao (Search On Ebay), on the other hand started getting cards all the way back in 2023-24 Panini products. Having cards with a RC two seasons after the first one is what Wookie collectors dreams are made of. He does get his first on-card autos and there are only 16 total so those are legit chases. There are 47 cards with RCs on them in the product so that is a good ratio for a 201 card checklist.
There are some other big auto chases in the product David Beckham (Search On Ebay) and Mo Salah (Search On Ebay). This is the first Topps product that Beckham will be signing in and it’s unclear if they will be on-card but they are redemptions. Much like Salah I expect now that Topps have him they will be pumping on the autos. the Cold Battle Frozenfractor Cole Palmer on-card auto (Search On Ebay) should do well. The dual with Morgan Rogers is also a cool card. The Zero Hours on-card checklist has some interesting names as well with Salah making another appearance because as I said he will be everywhere I imagine. They are black with silver autos which a lot of collectors seem to like. The dual and triple autos are nice because they are teammates and not a mismatch or even worse rivals.
If you have paid attention to any of the prerelease 2026 Topps Chrome Premier League promo you have probably seen that the insert designs haven’t gone over to well. For the most part they are either a terrible concept, a terrible design or in most cases both. There are a couple of cool things to chase though. The Club Crest (Search On Ebay) cards are only Superfractors which will make them highly desirable. The Winner’s Enclosure Superfractors will be incredible chases if you PC one of the 4 winners. The Premier League Trophy card is only a 1/1 as well and if history is any indicator that will fetch a big number as well. The Chrome Anime (Search On Ebay) cards should do well because Panini Anime cards are having a moment and this design has done well in Topps baseball. Helix (Search On Ebay) is back and there are ~100 of each and a Superfractor.
Topps has finally introduced the Buyback program to soccer. If you aren’t familiar the Buyback program allows you to turn any base or base card parallel of a player into store credit at participating locations. In other sports it’s for MVP awards but for this it is the Golden Boot winner. Erling Haaland (Search On Ebay) is the frontrunner right now and it seems the only other realistic shot right now is Igor Thiago who doesn’t have a base card so who knows what Topps will do if Thiago wins. If both get hurt or slow down things could get real fun as there are a bunch of players very close to each other behind those 2.
Topps released 2026 Topps Chrome Premier League at $200 per hobby box. Considering what Topps Flagship paper boxes go for that seems like a steal. That said the inflated Flagship box prices never made sense to me. The Chrome boxes are already up in the $250-275 range. I wouldn’t be surprised if they hit $300 if the Flagship is any indicator although that will depend on how quick new product hits the market. I think at $200 they were a decent buy but $275 is a bit too much for my liking with how much of this stuff there is. As I mentioned it is clear that Fanatics is doing a great job of getting people excited about this but will it translate long term for a set that isn’t even the first Chrome EPL product. Yes some of that will depend on the rookies but when I see that 2018-19 Topps Chrome EPL go for about $100 less and they are the first it makes me wander. I will be interested to see how singles of players with cards in both sets sell. Will this cause people to go back and look at 2018-19? It’s one of the few first run sets that doesn’t get love and that is even with a great design and full bleed parallels. You can find Prizm EPL boxes for $125-150 less as well. This set does have some very chaseable cards and that always drives up box prices and simultaneously hurts ROI if you care about such a thing. When I compare it to another high print product with a great rookie class even 2020 Topps Chrome UEFA boxes go for about $50 cheaper and that has Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo cards. Don’t get me wrong, there are some really cool cards to chase if you are getting involved. Good luck and remember soccer cards are fun.
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