The collectibles market is changing in real time, and the biggest names from the last two decades are no longer the only ones driving the conversation. Across sports, younger stars are stepping into the spotlight, and the card market is following right along.
That shift is easy to see in basketball, where LeBron James and Steph Curry have ruled both on the floor and in the hobby for years. Now Victor Wembanyama is forcing his way into that same conversation. His run to the Finals gave the market another reminder of just how loudly it responds to him, and his 2023 Panini Prizm Black 1/1 in a PSA 10 sold for $5,110,000 ahead of the Finals, making him just the eighth athlete to have a $5M+ sports card.
The next wave is already lined up behind him. Cooper Flagg, Kon Knueppel, and Dylan Harper are all part of the 2025 class making noise, and each will have a 2025-26 Topps Chrome Update Rookie Debut Patch Auto in the September Fanatics Collect Premier Auction. The expectation is that all three will likely clear $1M+.
Football has its own changing of the guard, even if Tom Brady still owns the sport’s card market in retirement. Josh Allen and Patrick Mahomes have been the two exceptions capable of cutting into that grip. Allen has already logged multiple million-dollar sales this year, while Mahomes still owns the top football sale of all time and has landed a few top-10 sales this year as well.
But the market is also starting to warm to a new group of quarterbacks. Caleb Williams with the Bears and Drake Maye with the Patriots are gaining traction, and Fernando Mendoza of the Raiders is expected to draw a strong chase when the first Debut Patch Autos arrive this year in the NFL.
Soccer is seeing the clearest handoff of all. With Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Luka Modric, Kevin de Bruyne, and others nearing the end of their era, the next group has arrived in force: Lamine Yamal, Erling Haaland, Max Dowman, and Cavan Sullivan.
For years, Messi was the automatic chase whenever a new soccer product hit the market. That is no longer the case in 2026.
Yamal is surging in La Liga, Haaland is thriving in the Premier League, and both Dowman and Sullivan are already beating expectations at just 16 years old. Yamal has been setting records en route to a Euro Championship and World Cup, Haaland’s market has bounced back after an impressive World Cup, Dowman is setting records as a young Premier League player, and Sullivan has now set the record for the highest MLS sale and USMNT sale.
Formula 1 has its own generational link-up, and it comes with a twist. Lewis Hamilton’s decision to leave Mercedes for Ferrari stunned the sport, and Toto Wolff’s push to get Kimi Antonelli into a Formula 1 seat helped connect the two. Antonelli took over the seat vacated by what may be the greatest racer of all time, and now in his second season he leads the Drivers’ Championship by 66 points over George Russell, with Hamilton 75 points behind Antonelli in third.
Hamilton still holds the record for the top Formula 1 sale of all time, but Antonelli’s market is already producing serious heat. At The National in Chicago this year, the owner of the 2025 Topps Chrome Formula 1 Superfractor Auto 1/1 in a PSA 10 for Antonelli said they had turned down offers up to $700,000 for the card.
Hockey has been slower to catch up with the other major sports in the hobby, but that is changing. Wayne Gretzky still towers over the market, with Alex Ovechkin, Sidney Crosby, and others having set the standard behind him. Now Macklin Celebrini is leading a new wave on and off the ice.
Celebrini became only the second hockey player ever to post a million-dollar sale when his 2024 Upper Deck Gold Outburst 1/1 sold for $1.2M at auction last month. Behind him, the market has also started buying into Conor Bedard, Matthew Schaeffer, and possibly Gavin McKenna.
The broader message is simple: the next generation is here, and collectors are already treating these young stars like the future of the hobby.
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