The Top 26 Most Expensive Soccer NFTs Ever Sold

This past August, a licensed NFT collection called “Messiverse” containing NFT assets that feature soccer legend Lionel Messi was auctioned to the public. The collection included this 1/1 “The Golden One” designed by Bosslogic, a famous artist known for his work on Marvel Studios projects. Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson even reached out to BossLogic to create some art for one of his upcoming movies. 

This 1/1 Messi NFT had a reserve price set at $50,000 but rocketed to over $1 million in bids. While the final sale price hasn’t been recorded on Ethernity’s website, the last bid that was published hit $1.12 million, which is 161% of the value of the most expensive physical soccer rookie card ever sold.

The NFT is currently listed for 3,303,030 ETH on Opensea, an NFT buying and selling platform. 3,303,030 ETH is currently valued at ~$55,028,479. 

Erling Haaland has made his name well known in the Premier League, as he is on pace to be the leagues top-scorer while breaking the all-time goals scored record for a season. His Sorare NFT sold for 265 ETH in January of 2022. 

The NFT of Erling Haaland that sold for 265 ETH is a digital card representing the 2021-22 season when Haaland was playing for Dortmund. The digital collectible has not been resold since but is currently on auction for 35o ETH. 

Cristiano Ronaldo’s Unique 1 of 1 Sorare card sold for $265,275.55 just 7 months ago. Sorare is an NFT based fantasy soccer game that allows its players to buy, sell, trade, and manage a team built with digital playing cards, virtually. 

Ronaldo may be the most popular soccer player in the world, and this Unique 1/1 NFT sold for just 15% less than the most expensive physical Ronaldo rookie card (last sold for $312,000). 

Kevin De Bruyne is a 30-year-old Midfielder and some argue he’s one of the best players in the world, if not the best player in the world based on recent play. He’s a decorated player, including 3 Premier League Titles, and has been the player of the year in England, Germany, and Belgium. His 1/1 Unique Sorare card was sold 2 months ago for 52 ETH or $167,469. 

Mohamed Salah is a 29-year-old Forward for Liverpool F.C. He’s scored 10 goals in 11 games in the English Premier League and his Wrapped Strikers Iconics card (numbered to just 7 copies) sold two weeks ago for a record 35 ETH after a 3-goal performance against Manchester united. 

The Crypto Strikers project, now called Wrapped Strikers on Opensea, was created in 2018 in anticipation of the 2018 World Cup. It is the first known soccer NFT project and was created by two founders with a passion for sports cards. 

During the release of the project, there was a “card of the day” which featured top players in the 2018 World Cup and had a significantly lower supply than the typical cards in the set (featuring work from a different artist). This is the most expensive Wrapped Striker card that has been sold. You can learn more about the set and its history here. 

There are just 13 Lionel Messi Iconics NFTs from the Wrapped Strikers set and one sold two months ago for 39.96 ETH or $128,512. There are actually fewer copies of this NFT (13) than Messi’s rookie Mega Cracks PSA 10 (20), but the latter sold for $336,000 in June this past year. 

Messi holds the title for most expensive NFT ever sold, but this is the earliest known Messi NFT (and the rarest from the set). While it’s not a licensed product, the history of the set is intriguing and is clearly valued on the open market. 

Ronaldo’s Wrapped Striker Iconics NFT has 1 less copy than Messi’s and sold two weeks ago for 29.95 ETH or $120,685. There are 38 copies of Ronaldo’s Mega Craques physical rookie cards and a copy sold this past October for $312,000. 

So far, we’ve generally seen physical trading cards outprice traditional rookie cards, but this is a significant sale for an NFT “rookie” card of the most popular soccer player in the world.

Vinícius Júnior is 21 years old and is a Forward for Real Madrid. He was named the UEFA Champions League player of the week this past August and scored 7 goals in 10 games in LaLiga. He’s a young player with a lot of potential. His 1/1 Unique Sorare sold 1 month ago for 39 ETH, or $114,634. 

For comparison, Júnior’s PSA 10 /25 Black Velocity Optic rookie card recently sold for $1,900.

Antoine Griezmann is a 30-year-old forward for Atlético Madrid. In 2018, he won the Silver Boot after as the 2nd highest goal scorer in the 2018 FIFA World Cup tournament. He scored 4 goals in the tournament and helped France win the World Cup. Greizemann’s 1 of 1 Unique Sorare sold 4 months ago for 50.88 ETH, which at the time was worth $110,668. 

As a price comparison, a Griezmann 1 of 1 Immaculate Autograph (non-rookie and not graded) sold for $1,500 in October. 

Paul Pogba is a 28-year-old Midfielder for Manchester United and was also a member of the France national team that won the 2018 World Cup. Pogba scored a goal in the final game to help France secure its championship over Croatia. Pogba is also a two-time English League Cup winner and one-time Europa League winner. His 1/1 Sorare Unique sold 4 months ago for 39.09 ETH, worth $92,491 at the time. 

Like Griezmann and Pogba, Kylian Mbappé won a World Cup with France in 2018 and scored a goal in the final match against Croatia. Mbappé is a popular young soccer player in the physical sports card market, with two copies of his Gold Prizm World Cup rookie card making the top 25 most expensive soccer cards ever sold list. Mbappé is 22 years old and plays forward for Paris Saint-Germain.

Mbappé’s /10 Super Rare Sorare NFT sold 1 month ago for 40 ETH, valued at $88,064. Mbappé’s Gold Prizm /10 physical rookie card sold for $161,130 in October, about 82% more than the /10 NFT card pictured above.

Multiple copies of Mbappés Super Rare NFT have sold at amounts to make this top 25 list. 8 months ago, this Super Rare sold for 58.56 ETH, which was valued at $85,159.

One major difference between physical trading cards and NFT trading cards is that traditional trading cards are purchased in US dollars or other fiat currency, whereas NFTs are purchased in Ethereum, which can fluctuate in value. 

At the time of this purchase, Ethereum was worth $1,454. At the time of this writing, 1 Ethereum is worth $4,798. If the seller held those funds, they would be worth $280,970 today.

It’s telling that multiple copies of the 10 Super Rare Mbappé cards sold at different times in the past 12 months for healthy amounts of money. There was enough demand to support multiple copies of this NFT being sold. This copy sold 1 month ago for 28 ETH, worth $84,075 at the time.

Luis Sinisterra is a 21-year-old winger who plays for Feyenoord Rotterdam, a Dutch professional soccer team. Sinisterra’s 1/1 Unique Sorare NFT sold 2 weeks ago for 20 ETH, valued at $80,527. Sinisterra is a young player with potential but has only just begun his professional career. Sorare does have a utility advantage over the earlier Wrapped Strikers NFTs in that players can earn money by creating rosters from cards they own of particular players. It’s interesting to see that dynamic play out especially when comparing a price like this NFT to the next one in the list from Cristiano Ronaldo.

Two months ago, this Cristiano Ronaldo’s Iconic /12 sold 25 ETH, valued at $79,200. The Wrapped Strikers NFT project was created in 2018 and has historical value relative to Sorare. In 2018, the cards were used as a fantasy game, much like Sorare is used today. 

Despite 100 copies issued of this NFT, Kylian Mbappé’s Sorare Rare sold 8 months ago for 49.99 ETH, worth $74,558 at the time. Mbappé Sorares show up multiple times on this list, but this is the only Rare /100 in the top 25 soccer NFT sales. Given that it sold 8 months ago, it’s likely it was one of the first of the Rare cards to hit the market.

4 months ago, this Mbappé /10 Super Rare sold for 32.5 ETH, valued at $70,679. This is $14,000 less than the next highest sale of this NFT but sold for 4.5 more ETH. Keep in mind, the price of Ethereum moves up and down. Although this sale ranks lower in terms of US dollars, some may argue it was a more valuable sale given the higher ETH price.

A second Mbappé Super Rare sold 4 months ago for 32.18 ETH. As is the case for the previous Super Rare sale, this card had a higher sale price in terms of ETH, but ETH was worth less at the time of the sale. 

Marquinhos is a 27-year-old Defender for Paris Saint-Germain and plays for the Brazilian national team. He’s won 6 Ligue 1 titles with Paris Saint-Germain and signed one of the most lucrative deals for a player under 20 at the time.  His Sorare Unique 1/1 sold 5 months ago for 24 ETH ($68,606). 

Lionel Messi’s Wrapped Strikers Iconics /13 sold for 39.96 ETH 2 months ago, worth $66,309 at the time. This is the rarest Messi NFT in the 2018 NFT set. The lowest available Messi Iconic for sale is currently listed at 80 ETH ($384,611).

There are just 2 Cristiano Ronaldo Iconics listed for sale on Opensea with the lowest price at 55 ETH ($264,420). This copy sold for 29.95 ETH ($66,292) just two weeks ago. 29.95 ETH is now worth $143,733 at the time of this writing. 

Sebastian Syzmanski is 22 years old and currently plays for FC Dynamo Moscow as a Midfielder. In 2018, he made Poland’s preliminary World Cup team but did not make the final cut. He recently signed a 5-year contract with Dynamo and was voted player of the month by Dynamo fans in July of 2021. It’s fascinating to see how well 1/1 Unique Sorares have done in the market, even for lesser-known players. 2 weeks ago, his 1/1 Unique Sorare sold for 15 ETH ($63,935).

Neymar is a 29-year-old Forward who currently plays for Paris St. Germain and the Brazilian national team. He is the third-highest Brazilian goal-scorer of all time and is on pace to beat Pele and Ronaldo’s records. Neymar is a popular player (163 million Instagram followers and was named Brazil’s most marketable athlete), but he’s been criticized for his lack of a World Cup victory. 

There are just 9 Neymar Iconics NFTs and one sold for 20 ETH ($63,297) 2 months ago. Neymar is often in the same conversion with Messi and Ronaldo as one of the greatest players of his generation and is ranked 3rd in global player popularity. 

Kylian Mbappé’s 1/1 Unique Sorare sold 11 months ago for 116.15 ETH ($62,817). This is by far the highest Mbappé Sorare sold in terms of ETH, but the value of ETH was much lower 11 months ago. 116.15 ETH is currently worth $557,403. Given higher sales (in terms of US dollar amounts) for less rare cards, it would be interesting to see what would happen if this 1/1 hit the market again. 

This is the sixth and final copy of Mbappé’s Super Rare Sorare /10 to make this list and sold 4 months ago for 32.18 ETH ($62,144). 8 of Mbappé’s NFTs made this list, the highest number out of any other player. 

Bruno Fernandes is a 27-year-old Midfielder for Manchester United. Last season, he finished as the team’s top goalscorer and did so as a Midfielder. He has played 80 games for Manchester United and has scored 40 goals. Fernandes’ 2019 Unique 1/1 Sorare sold for 99 ETH ($60,642) 10 months ago. 99 ETH is currently worth $475,101.