2022 Panini Eminence World Cup Soccer is back for the 2nd time. The first set was back in 2018 and now they have released again in a World Cup year. They have added the World Cup name to the product this year instead of just calling it soccer like they did in 2018. If you are unfamiliar with the product it is billed by Panini as a “high-end collection” and the 2018 product certainly fit the bill. All of the cards are on-card autos and player worn equipment which is something I really like to buy. All of the cards come encased and not in packs. I will explain in the review below why the 2022 product does not live up to the precedence set by the 2018 set. The price on this product is going to be in the high 4 to low 5 figure price range so it certainly isn’t for everyone, but it is much lower than 2018. I have been offered cases for $9000 and the first auction on Ebay went for $9600 just to give you and idea. If you are thinking about buying a case or getting in on a break please read the full review.
2022 Panini Eminence World Cup Soccer Breakdown
Checklist – HERE
Case (Box) Makeup – (Search On Ebay) – 10 cards per case. 9 autos and 1 metal/gem non-auto card on average.
Print Runs – ~900 cases. Panini does not provide pack odds but based on box makeup I believe this to be close.
SCHQ Review – I have been looking forward to 2022 Panini Eminence World Cup since I first learned of it’s upcoming release. Once I saw the design of the cards I was a little less enthused. Once I saw the checklist I really started to lose interest but was a bit encouraged by the Pele patch auto inclusions. Now that I have seen Pele sticker autos as well as sticker autos on the multi player cards I am left wondering how Panini screwed up what should have been a great product. Based on the countries, Italy and Colombia made the checklist, they have clearly been producing this for a while. I understand that Pele is in bad health now but I almost think it would’ve been better to just not include him if they knew they they were only going to have stickers. You can tell from the checklist numbering that they pulled plenty of cards. I think Panini knew without Pele this checklist would’ve been ultra weak.
The checklist for this year is underwhelming compared to 2018 Eminence (Search On Ebay). 2018 had some huge players that aren’t in the 2022 set inlcuding Diego Maradona, Ronaldo (R9), Ronaldinho, Roberto Baggio, Franz Beckenbauer and Zico to name a few. In 2018 Panini broke some of the top players into groups (A, B, C) and you knew you would get at least one of each in a box. For instance Group A was both Ronaldos and Lionel Messi. Group B was Maradona, Neymar Jr., Baggio, Pele and Ronaldinho. This year to my knowledge there are no groups, so no guarantees. If you add up the total number of Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Kylian Mbappe and Pele autos you almost get one per box but by no means are they guaranteed. The one thing that is of interest to me is the Messi autos. 2018 Messi autos have been lumped into the “brother” signed autos and therefore have lost a ton of value compared to his other autos. If the 2022 appear to be “real” that would certainly help the product especially now that he has won the World Cup.
Most of the former players are the same ones that we saw in 2022 National Treasures (Search On Ebay) or have at least seen in other Panini products recently. The former player that Panini is hyping is Eduardo if that gives you any idea of the product. Of course this year does have Mbappe autos (Search On Ebay) which is a great addition. Panini points out that Vini Jr. (Search On Ebay) and Fede Valverde are new signers in this but both were in National Treasures. The octet auto booklet checklist has a lot to be desired. There is the inclusion of some of the hot young players like Jamal Musiala, Bukayo Saka, Florian Wirtz and Jude Bellingham but those are non auto/memorablia cards. They even included Gavi and of course gave him a RC.
The design is another thing that I think is better in 2018 but I realize this is a personal preference. I just think the black with gold autos from 2018 will appeal to more people than a maroon based card with blue autos in 2022. That is not to say that all of the 2022 cards don’t look good. Some look absoletely brilliant and are definitely worthy of being higher end cards. The good thing about this year not having all black cards is that the condition should be better. The whitening on the 2018 cards was a bit of a problem. Another thing to keep in mind is the quality of the autos and patches if you are buying singles. So far the patches I have seen haven’t been single color (napkins) so that is good. Match worn is better than player worn but I haven’t seen any “not associated” cards yet either. Every card is numbered to 10 or less so the quality of the patches and autos are more important than the number on the card outside of One of Ones.
Overall like most products this will come down to price point. As I mentioned above cases are going for around $9000-$10000 right now. (update: I know now Panini website pricing which I didn’t know whe I first wrote the review) Panini is releasing this at $13,500 on their site. This is much higher than expected. It is possible to hit a Lionel Messi auto and still lose at that price. I thought $9000 was going to make it tough but at least reasonable on how wax is usually priced. $13500 makes this an even riskier rip. If breakers mark this up at $5000+ over this it will be a bloodbath for most people.
I also know if I am being offered cases at $9000 the people offering them to me are getting them for much less. I bring this up because I am seeing big soccer breakers breaking these at a value of $15000 per case, 10 cards at $1500 per spot. That is absolutely ridiculous to me unless you think that a breaker should make $6000+ for about 30 minutes of work. That doesn’t even include the fact probably only 1 to maybe 3 spots will make their money back and some will be out over $1000 in value. Would it kill a breaker to only make $1000 on these? Is that really too much to ask? About 2/3 of the cases should have a 1/1, but hitting a 1/1 in Eminence is not quite the same as hitting a 1/1 in other sets since they make up such a bigger portion of the set. There will be some people that hit a Messi auto for less than $100 but remember all the other losers in that same break. Make sure to know how many spots are in a break (Search Breaks On Ebay) before getting in. Also know that unless you get into a guaranteed card break the chances you hit a card will be quite low. Until we see what the big autos go for in this it will be hard to put a value on a case. I could see it being a case of where people are hesitant to buy and then a Messi is hit and FOMO sets in. As always this review is not meant to be financial advice and you are more than welcome to spend your money how you like.
I know the tone of this review seems negative, but i will certianly be picking up singles from the product. I just wanted people that were rushing to buy a break or case to know the possible dangers. I will be waiting a bit to buy singles because a lot will likely get listed as they get opened as people try to make their money back. There are 250 new Lionel Messi (not including multiples), 234 Cristiano Ronaldo (not including multiples), 64 Mbappe and 224 Pele cards in the product. If one of the card designs is one you like best then you can buy one of those as there will only be 16 each. If you would just be happy with any Lionel Messi Eminence auto you should be able to wait out the initial rush.
**As Eminence cases get opened, I will be updating this to keep it as accurate as possible. Please follow @SoccerCardsHQ on Twitter, IG or Facebook to stay up to date. If you have any questions send a DM. If you have friends or know of other collectors on social media that are not into soccer but want to know more about this set please share this review with them. Check out other reviews such as the 2022 Panini Prizm World Cup review.
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