Our maiden voyage on the site happens to be a box break of the newly released 2021-22 Topps Champions League. The set itself consists of 200 base cards, with numerous foil parallels and inserts. As with almost every set on the market you can expect to find some autos included but, interestingly enough, there’s no guarantee of an auto per box. That’s probably what keeps this box at a nice and affordable average hobby price of $120.
We’ll start with breakdown of what we saw:
24 packs per box / 8 cards per pack
- 19 inserts
- 6 Road to St. Petersburg (1 in 4 packs)
- 5 1975/76 Footballers (1 in 4.8 packs)
- 4 Future Stars (1 in 6 packs)
- 3 Flags of Foundation (1 in 8 packs)
- 1 Best of the Best (1 in 24 packs)
- 10 foil parallels
- 8 Starball (1 in 3 packs)
- 1 Icy Blue Foil #/99 (1 in 24 packs)
- 1 Silver Foil #/75 (1 in 24 packs)
- 0 SPs or SSPs
- 0 autographs
- 128 base cards
- 109 veterans
- 38 rookies
- 8 All-Star Rookies
- 4 checklists
- 4 2020/21 Title Winners
Not surprisingly, we didn’t receive an auto out of this box. Disappointing, for sure, but not surprising. But we did manage to snag some pretty decent inserts and parallels.
The Konate card is the lowest numbered card we pulled and it’s a doozy. Konate is already establishing himself on a stacked Liverpool squad and he’s only 22. This also highlights the new All Star Rookie “cup” on some of the cards in the set.
Not too shabby here as well, with some classic veterans pulled with Aguero, Bale, Suarez, and Morata. The Braganca is one to keep an eye on.
A Christiano as a box-hit is pretty great and since we got it late in the box, it was a big relief.
The Champions League final is no longer scheduled to be played in St. Petersburg so the insert set is a little outdated but important nonetheless. It highlights some of the top players on the top teams expected to be squaring off in the final, which is now in Saint-Denis, France.
What’s not to love about the modern feel to this classic insert? Some key future stars pulled as well.
We were not expecting it but the 1975/76 insert set actually works well in a soccer setting. It’s such a classic game that this classic look is a fine fit.
There’s also five cards devoted to Chelsea’s title win last year with cards featuring Christian Pulisic, Kai Havertz, and Mason Mount.
After pulling more than half the base set, we expected to see a good number of quality rookies and they did not disappoint. The Pedri is huge, as is the Cole Palmer, but the rest of the All Star Rookies and RC-badged lads are nothing to sneeze at either. These are keepers.
Lastly, there is no shortage of star power in this set. As this is the Champions League set you’re going to get the best teams, which means, you’re going to get, arguably, the best players in the world.
All in all, this is a decent looking set with some great parallels and inserts. With the low price-point, this is a good investment if you’re looking to collect your favorite player or team but don’t expect to be re-selling these for top money though, unless you’re lucky enough to pull an auto.
Overall Rating = B
Pros
- Low price-point
- Great selection of young, rising stars as well as impactful veterans
- Small set size means the truly important players are included with minimal filler
Cons
- No guaranteed-auto per box
- Small set size means some teams are under represented while you’ll get inundated with the big ones
- Plain design of the base set doesn’t allow it to stand out amongst other soccer sets
