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.
Nico Paz
Real Madrid · 2023-242023-24 Topps Merlin Chrome Uefa30. F. COUTO
FC Barcelona · 1997-98Tygo Land
PSV Eindhoven · 2024-252024-25 Topps Chrome Uefa Club CompetitionsStephen McPhail
Leeds United · 2000-01BaseAnthony Modeste
1. FC Köln · 2021-22BaseJulien Duranville
2023-24SuccessionAlan Virginius
LOSC Lille · 2023-242023-24 Topps Chrome Uefa Club CompetitionsNilson Angulo
Ecuador · 2026Panini Prizm Fifa World Cup 2026Mykhaylo Mudryk
FC Shakhtar Donetsk · 2022-23FilmstripMarkel Etxeberría
Bilbao Athletic · 2015-16BaseAbde Ezzalzouli
FC Barcelona · 2021-22Base Card IAffengruber
Elche CF · 2025-26KryptonitaJunior Kroupi
AFC Bournemouth · 2025-26BaseAyase Ueda
Feyenoord · 2023-242023-24 Topps Chrome Uefa Club CompetitionsZubimendi
Real Sociedad · 2020-21BaseSimon Charlton
Bolton Wanderers · 2001-02BaseMichael Krmenčík
FC Viktoria Plzeň · 2018-19BaseYannick Semedo
Cape Verde · 2026Panini Prizm Fifa World Cup 2026Kenneth Vermeer
AFC Ajax · 2011-12BaseStefan Radu
SS Lazio · 2020-21Match Attax ChromeTsuyoshi Watanabe
Japan · 2026Panini Prizm Fifa World Cup 2026Deniz Gül
FC Porto · 2024-252024-25 Topps Chrome Uefa Club CompetitionsMehdi Ghayedi
Iran · 2026Panini Prizm Fifa World Cup 2026How 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.