Players making their first World Cup appearance at the 2026 tournament will wear a special debut patch on their jerseys.
Stars like Erling Haaland and Lamine Yamal are set to make their World Cup bows this summer, along with every member of the Scotland squad.
This initiative is part of a new licensing agreement that will see Fanatics take over from Panini as FIFA’s official partner for trading cards and stickers from 2031 onward.
After a player’s debut match, the patch will be removed from the shirt and turned into a collectible Topps trading card. The patch design has yet to be finalized.
Debut patches have been a staple in US sports for several years and were introduced to Major League Soccer in 2024. FIFA has not released full details on how the process will work for the 2026 World Cup, but it is expected to mirror the MLS system, which also has a licensing deal with Fanatics.
Under the MLS model, each team receives a supply of debut patches. Before a player’s debut, the patch is affixed to the upper-right chest of the jersey with adhesive. After the game, the patch is removed and placed onto a unique collectible trading card. That card is then sent to Topps and randomly inserted into a Chrome MLS hobby box, which retails for approximately $120 (£88). Each hobby box contains 21 packs of four cards, with two autograph cards per box.
MLS debut cards are autographed by the player, though it has not yet been confirmed whether World Cup cards will follow suit. Because the Fanatics deal does not take effect until 2031, these collectibles will not be available for purchase before then. This means there will be a large inventory of debut cards from the 2026 and 2030 finals to form a World Cup collectible set.
The 2026 tournament alone is expected to generate over 600 cards. Teams making their first World Cup appearance include Cape Verde, Curacao, Jordan, and Uzbekistan. Others returning after long absences are Austria, the Czech Republic, DR Congo, Haiti, Iraq, New Zealand, Norway, Paraguay, Scotland, and Turkey. Algeria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Ivory Coast are back for the first time in 12 years and will field almost entirely debutant squads.
