The Ten Most Graded Lionel Messi Cards of All Time

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Lionel Messi has spent two decades building the kind of résumé that made him a hobby fixture long before he ever set foot in MLS. From a Barcelona teenager’s first sticker to the card marking his World Cup trophy lift in Qatar, his catalog spans nearly every era of modern soccer collecting, including some of the biggest names among the most valuable World Cup player cards on the market today.

To gather the most graded Messi cards of all time, we pulled population data from all four major graders via GemRate.com and ranked every Messi card by combined total grades across PSA, CGC, Beckett (BGS), and SGC. This cross-grader methodology gives a fuller picture than any single grading company’s population report on its own. For more on his career, see Messi’s career record on Wikipedia.

Why Messi’s World Cup and Copa América Cards Dominate the List

Nearly every card on this list ties back to an international tournament rather than his club career at Barcelona or Inter Miami. World Cup and Copa América releases (Panini Prizm, Panini Instant, Panini’s various World Cup sticker sets) tend to draw the heaviest grading volume of his entire catalog, since they’re tied to the moments collectors most associate with him: a rookie-era World Cup run, a decade of near-misses, and finally a title in Qatar.

Two things to understand before you read the list. First, these numbers reflect grading population, not card value. A widely distributed modern card will often outpace a scarce vintage card that exists in a fraction of the copies. Second, gem rates vary enormously by product and era. On-demand releases like Panini Instant tend to gem in the 70 to 90 percent range since collectors grade almost straight from the pack, while older Panini sticker and card stock from the mid-2000s regularly gems in the single digits due to centering and print quality issues.

Top 10 Most Graded Lionel Messi Cards (All Graders)

Data sourced from GemRate.com. Combined totals include PSA, CGC, Beckett (BGS), and SGC. Cards are matched per exact card entry across grader databases and ranked by combined total grades, counted down from #10 to #1.

10. 2020-21 Topps The Lost Rookie Cards

Combined Total: 1,972 | PSA: 1,755 (32%) | CGC: 159 (52%) | BGS: 0 (0%) | SGC: 58 (12%)

PSA has graded this card 1,755 times, with 563 copies earning a Gem Mint 10 for a 32 percent gem rate. It’s a retroactive rookie-era release from Topps’ Champions League range, capturing his early Barcelona days on a modern print run rather than a true vintage issue.

9. 2004 Mundicromo Liga #617

Combined Total: 2,099 | PSA: 1,607 (3%) | CGC: 10 (10%) | BGS: 370 (5%) | SGC: 112 (0%)

PSA has awarded a Gem Mint 10 to just 47 of the 1,607 copies submitted, a brutal 3 percent gem rate that makes this the hardest card on the entire list to find in top grade. It’s also his true rookie card, issued while he was still a Barcelona teenager and years before his senior national team debut.

8. 2006 Panini World Cup Germany Base #47

Combined Total: 2,217 | PSA: 2,067 (7%) | CGC: 26 (4%) | BGS: 0 (0%) | SGC: 124 (1%)

PSA has graded 2,067 copies of this card, but only 138 have come back a Gem Mint 10, a 7 percent gem rate. Issued for the 2006 World Cup when Messi was 18, it’s the standard card counterpart to the sticker version at #7.

7. 2006 Panini World Cup Germany Sticker #185

Combined Total: 2,734 | PSA: 2,313 (6%) | CGC: 57 (0%) | BGS: 118 (16%) | SGC: 246 (0%)

PSA has graded this sticker 2,313 times, yet just 150 have earned a Gem Mint 10, a 6 percent gem rate. This was Messi’s first World Cup sticker, issued when he was still finding his footing with the senior national team.

6. 2024 Panini Instant Copa América #43

Combined Total: 2,837 | PSA: 2,243 (69%) | CGC: 225 (90%) | BGS: 344 (97%) | SGC: 25 (68%)

PSA has already graded 2,243 copies since its release, with 1,541 grading a Gem Mint 10 for a strong 69 percent gem rate. Printed on demand right after Argentina’s 2024 Copa América win, it’s one of the newest cards on this list and still climbing fast.

5. 2022 Panini Prizm World Cup Qatar #7

Combined Total: 3,213 | PSA: 2,972 (36%) | CGC: 54 (13%) | BGS: 105 (15%) | SGC: 82 (24%)

PSA has graded 2,972 copies of this card, with 1,070 grading Gem Mint 10 for a 36 percent gem rate. Released just before the tournament that made him a World Cup champion, it’s the Qatar-era follow-up to the 2018 Prizm card at #4.

4. 2018 Panini Prizm World Cup #1

Combined Total: 3,698 | PSA: 3,400 (38%) | CGC: 88 (18%) | BGS: 123 (37%) | SGC: 87 (38%)

PSA has graded 3,400 copies, with 1,303 earning a Gem Mint 10, a 38 percent gem rate. Card #1 in the 2018 Russia World Cup Prizm set, and a natural predecessor to the 2014 issue that tops this list.

3. 2024 Topps Now MLS #128 (Curry/Messi)

Combined Total: 3,833 | PSA: 3,138 (50%) | CGC: 297 (38%) | BGS: 398 (33%) | SGC: 0 (0%)

PSA has graded 3,138 copies, with 1,583 grading Gem Mint 10 for a 50 percent gem rate. It’s the only card on this list that isn’t Messi-exclusive, a shared card with Steph Curry tied to a viral celebration moment, and a real snapshot of his crossover pull into the US market since joining Inter Miami.

2. 2022 Panini Instant FIFA World Cup Qatar #118

Combined Total: 5,932 | PSA: 5,518 (71%) | CGC: 76 (80%) | BGS: 217 (90%) | SGC: 121 (59%)

PSA has graded 5,518 copies, with 3,927 grading Gem Mint 10 for a strong 71 percent gem rate. Printed to order in the days after Argentina’s Qatar win, this card captures Messi lifting the World Cup trophy, the moment that finally completed his résumé.

1. 2014 Panini Prizm World Cup #12

Combined Total: 8,440 | PSA: 7,317 (35%) | CGC: 85 (29%) | BGS: 795 (50%) | SGC: 243 (38%)

PSA has graded this card an astonishing 7,317 times, with 2,556 copies grading a Gem Mint 10 for a 35 percent gem rate. It’s Messi’s flagship card from the 2014 World Cup, in Panini’s most recognizable modern insert design, and it isn’t particularly close to anything else on this list.

What These Numbers Tell Us About the Hobby

The 2024 Copa América Panini Instant at #6 is the most consistent entry on this list: PSA, Beckett, and CGC all land within a tight band of high-60s to high-90s gem rates, a clear sign that on-demand prints graded fresh out of the pack perform well across every grading company. Compare that to the two 2006 World Cup Germany cards at #7 and #8, where every grader reports single-digit gem rates, and you get a real, actionable insight into just how unforgiving that era of Panini card stock still is today.

The Curry/Messi dual card at #3 is the most unusual entry. It’s the only card on this list that isn’t Messi-exclusive, yet it still climbs into the top three once every grader is counted, largely thanks to a strong Beckett and CGC following that PSA-only rankings would have missed entirely. That’s the whole case for cross-grader data: a PSA-only view would have had this card sitting outside the top 5.

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