One-of-a-Kind Cristiano Ronaldo Trading Card Sells for Eye-Watering Record Fee

Cristiano Ronaldo continues to break records both on and off the field.

Cristiano Ronaldo’s likeness is worth millions. | Fayez NURELDINE/AFP/Getty Images

An ultra-rare Cristiano Ronaldo trading card has reportedly sold for a record-breaking $1.35 million in a private sale.

According to Fanatics Collect, which claims to have brokered the deal, the sale smashes the previous record for a Ronaldo card—$312,000 paid for his 2002–03 Panini Mega Cracks rookie card in a Gem Mint PSA 10 grade at auction in 2021.

The card in question is Ronaldo’s 2018 Panini Kaboom Green parallel, of which only one was ever produced.

BREAKING: We’ve officially brokered a $1,350,000 private sale for this 1-of-1 Cristiano Ronaldo trading card.

This sets the record for most expensive Ronaldo card of all-time.

It’s also the second most expensive soccer trading card sale ever, only behind Lionel Messi’s sale of… pic.twitter.com/8xQjzROsdb

— Fanatics Collect (@FanaticsCollect) May 21, 2026

Panini’s Kaboom cards are among the most highly sought-after inserts in modern trading card collecting. The Kaboom design first appeared in 2013–14 Panini Innovation Basketball before being extended across football, baseball and soccer products.

Ronaldo’s original Kaboom card was part of a 50-player set released in 2018, available only through multi-sport packs linked to a Panini Rewards program, with just a single Green parallel produced.

The record-breaking sale comes shortly after Ronaldo helped Al Nassr secure the Saudi Pro League title for the first time since his arrival in 2022.

Al Nassr sealed the championship with a 4–1 win over Damac, in which Ronaldo scored twice, edging out rivals Al Hilal to claim their first league title since 2019.

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Cristiano Ronaldo Still Trails Lionel Messi Record

Cristiano Ronaldo (left) and Lionel Messi could meet at the 2026 World Cup. | Paul Ellis/AFP/Getty Images

No two players in the history of the sport have been so intrinsically intertwined as Ronaldo and Lionel Messi. The two best players of the modern era have been endlessly pitted against one another for the best part of two decades. “I was at Barcelona and he was at Real Madrid, playing Clásicos, and we were competing for everything both collectively and individually, so people were always comparing us,” Messi recently reflected. “What both of us achieved made the rivalry even bigger.

“We didn’t meet often except during matches or award ceremonies, where everyone was always watching to see whether he or I would win. But we were always on good terms. Now we’re far away and at different stages of our lives, but what happened was a beautiful sporting rivalry.”

That rivalry has extended even to the real of trading cards.

Just as Ronaldo resides behind Messi in most objective appraisals of the greatest player of all time, he also boasts the second-most expensive soccer trading card of all time. Ronaldo’s $1.35 million card sits just behind the $1.5 million paid for Lionel Messi’s 2004 Panini Mega Cracks rookie card (PSA 10 with MBA Gold Diamond distinction), which was sold in a private deal in 2025.

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