A one-of-one Green Kaboom card of Cristiano Ronaldo from 2018 has sold for a whopping $1.35 million via a private sale this weekend. The card, graded a PSA 10, is now the most expensive Ronaldo card to be sold publicly and is the second most expensive soccer card of all time. Only Lionel Messi’s rookie card, which fetched $1.5M has sold for more.
The sale triples the previous record for a Ronaldo card. On May 22nd, a 1 of 1 2015 Panini Flawless Finishes black card sold for $420, 000 at the Fanatics Premier auction, but was a significantly lower grade, coming it at a PSA 7.
The identity of the buyer has yet to be publicly disclosed, though it’s been speculated that it may have been a Saudi backed buyer. Ronaldo recently won his first Saudi Pro League title alongside Al Nassr and will once again represent Portugal at the upcoming World Cup.
This year will mark the 6th such time that the veteran forward will represent his country at the World Cup, with a victory at the largest international tournament in existence being the trophy that has thus far evaded Ronaldo.
Across a career that has now spanned a quarter of a century, the 41 year old is one of the sports biggest stars even as his career begins to wind down, and his collectibles market reflects that. In terms of six figure cards in the world of soccer, the landscape is dominated by Messi and Ronaldo grails, with a few others such as Pele sprinkled into the mix for good measure.
Having played for some of the largest clubs in the world, including Manchester United, Real Madrid, and Juventus, the demand for Ronaldo memorabilia will always be high amongst collectors. Nevertheless, the Portuguese star still has some ground to make up on his Argentinian counterpart.
Since August, there have been 7 sales of Messi cards in excess of $350,000, whereas there have been just two featuring Ronaldo. A deep run in this summer’s World Cup of soccer however could easily kickstart the market for Ronaldo cards once again.
Photo: Ludovic Péron. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported, 2.5 Generic, 2.0 Generic and 1.0 Generic license.