World Cup Star, Memphis Depay, Rips Pokémon Packs Chasing Grails on Off-Day

It's not every day the leading scorer of one of the most prestigious national teams in the history of soccer comes into your card shop. However, that's just what happened with Dutch legend Memphis Depay on an off-day in Kansas. He went Pokémon grail hunting at Collector's Cache in Lenexa, Kansas, before a matchup against Tunisia.

The expectations for the Dutch at the 2026 World Cup are high, especially after coming out firing with 7 goals in their first two games. While Memphis Depay has only played limited minutes after coming into the World Cup a bit banged up, he used an off-day to go grail hunting at a card store in Kansas.

Athletes are Obsessed with Pokémon

Memphis isn't the first athlete to rip Pokémon packs, but as far as I can tell he's the first to go on camera and rip packs during the World Cup!

However, he's far from the first to rip Pokemon packs this year. There was the inspiring Angels clubhouse pact between Mike Trout and Zach Neto to rip Pokémon packs to break out of a slump.

Zach Neto said he got out of his slump after opening Pokémon cards with Mike Trout pregame to get his mind off things. He packed a Charizard card and Trout told him the box of cards would bring them homers. And they both went deep tonight and Trout hugged Neto after his homer.
— Rhett Bollinger (@RhettBollinger) May 6, 2026

Jacob Misiorowski and Will Klein have both had custom gloves made featuring Pokémon cards. Misiowroski has since had a second custom glove made.

Jacob Misiorowski's custom Gengar baseball glove is CRAZY!!@44procustom made a custom glove for Jacob Misiorowski, featuring a Japanese Holo Fossil Gengar.

Will Klein was the first to do it, but whose glove would you choose?

Jacob or Will? pic.twitter.com/S4VN7xKvAO
— Collectibles.com (@Collectibles) April 19, 2026

Pokémon cards have become a big feature of Misiorowski content this year as he also went viral for his Pokémon card binder, which is almost as big as he is. He discussed his truly massive binder of Pokémon cards with Jeff Passan on his podcast.

Memphis Depay's Gengar Hunt

After Memphis struck out on his first visit to Collector's Cache, he went back the following day for an even bigger Pokémon hunt. He went back, still chasing the Mega Gengar EX from Ascended Heroes. What happened next just has to be seen to be believed.

Memphis just got back into collecting Pokémon cards after a few years, thanks to some friends of his. He collected as a kid, but is going all in on some of the newer sets. Don't let his love of the newer sets fool you. He has the tattoo to prove it.

🚨 Informação: o Pokemon favorito de Memphis Depay é o Jigglypuff pic.twitter.com/CmRv28HGyl
— Gatinho Corinthiano (@corinth_gatinho) February 12, 2025

Yes, that's a Jigglypuff on the arm of a world-class soccer player. In addition to the Mega Gengar EX, he was also chasing the Mega Dragonite EX. As luck would have it, in one of the first packs of his Ascended Heroes box, he hit the Mega Gengar EX.

While Memphis has yet to score in the World Cup (this was written just before kickoff against Tunisia, so hopefully this is a good luck charm) on the pitch, at least he hit big off the pitch with a PC card and supported a local card shop in the process.

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