Desk Report:
Messi’s card sold for a record 180 million taka
Making records is nothing new to Lionel Messi. He has been breaking records in international football and competitive football by scoring one goal after another. The Argentine star forward’s record is different this time.
A rookie card from Messi’s time playing for Barcelona was sold for $1.5 million, according to a report by ESPN last night. That’s 182.6 million taka in Bangladeshi currency. This expensive card was sold through Fanatics Collect’s private transaction network. A player’s first official trading card is basically known as a rookie card. Now it has become the most expensive card in football history.
Before Messi, the record for football cards was held by Pele. In 2022, the Brazilian World Cup-winning legend’s card called ‘Alifabolagate’ was sold for $1.33 million. 161.9 million taka in Bangladeshi currency. The ‘Alifabolagate’ card was from 1958. This is a sticker-like trading card series originally released in Sweden in the 1950s and 60s.
The 2004-05 Panini ‘Mega Cracks’ PSA 10 is the official card from Messi’s debut season at Barcelona. This card is extremely rare. Earlier, another company called ‘Golden Auction’ sold another card for $1.1 million (Bangladeshi Taka 133.9 million). Fanatics Vice President Kevin Lennon said, ‘We have a lot of cards like this. There are many buyers. We can work with them. We were able to sell $8 million (Bangladeshi Taka 973.5 million) in the first month.’
After playing for two decades at Barcelona, Messi moved to Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) in 2021. But after two years, the atmosphere at PSG became toxic for the Argentine forward. Messi has been playing for Inter Miami since 2023. He has scored 61 goals in 74 matches for the American club in two and a half years. Assisted 29 goals. He has won two titles in the Miami jersey so far.
