THE FIRST CHAPTERS
Football rookie cards
Every story has a first card. Discover each player’s first year in our catalogue.
Every card from their first recorded year, across all collections. Filters narrow the results without recalculating that year.
Quilindschy Hartman (Next Gen)
Feyenoord · 2023-24BaseReece James
Chelsea · 2020-21AutographsAbdulelah Al-Malki
Saudi Arabia · 2022Fifa World Cup Qatar 2022 PrizmAli Majrashi
Saudi Arabia · 2026Panini Prizm Fifa World Cup 2026228. JOSE RAMÓN
S. D. Compostela · 1997-98Kevinn Phillips
Sunderland · 2001-02BaseMagnus Mattsson
FC København · 2023-24BaseMicah Hamilton
Manchester City · 2023-242023-24 Topps Merlin Chrome UefaAleksandr Kokorin
Russia · 2014Base SetTeboho Mokoena
South Africa · 2026Panini Prizm Fifa World Cup 2026P. Murcia
Atlético de Madrid · 2005-06BaseAndré Almeida – Captain
SL Benfica · 2021-22BaseIsaac Lihadji
LOSC Lille · 2021-22Base Card IiViktor Gyökeres
Sporting CP · 2023-242023-24 Topps Merlin Chrome UefaKarim Adeyemi
FC Salzburg · 2020-212020-21 Topps Merlin Chrome UefaSeitaridis
Atlético de Madrid · 2006-07BaseJulien Duranville
Borussia Dortmund · 2023-242023-24 Topps Chrome Uefa Club Competitions Sapphire EditionBorna Sosa
Croatia · 2022Mosaic Road To Fifa World Cup Qatar 2022Landeira
Sporting de Gijón · 2007-08BaseVan Nistelrooy
Real Madrid · 2006-07MegafichajesBA-WMv Weston McKennie
Juventus · 2021-22Standard FinestBoubacar Kamara
Olympique de Marseille · 2020-21Match Attax ChromeFacundo Buonanotte
Brighton & Hove Albion · 2023-242023-24 Topps Merlin Chrome UefaHow to find a footballer’s first cards
Find a player and compare their first cards across collections. Filter by publisher, season, team, category and language, view photographs and save the cards you like to your wishlist.
Which cards appear here?
We show individual player cards with a known year. If a player’s first recorded year is 2010, all their 2010 cards and stickers appear, including variants and languages, across the available collections.
Is this the same as an RC logo?
No. Rookie here means the first year recorded in Trading Cards Tracker. We do not certify that this is their first published card or that it carries an official RC logo. Check the edition and its sources for each card.
Can the first year change?
Yes. Adding or correcting an earlier card updates the results. We use the card’s year, not the date it was added to the website or the end of a season. Cards without a year and multi-player cards are excluded from this calculation.
How is each player identified?
We group by the recorded name, normalising accents, spaces and letter case. We do not merge nicknames or different names based on similarity. Aliases and namesakes may need review: check the player, team and collection.