World Cup debutants to wear collectable patches on shirts

The patches will be removed from shirts after a player's debut and turned into collectable Topps trading cards. The design of the World Cup patch has not yet been finalised. Debut patches have been used in US sports for several years, and were introduced into Major League Soccer in 2024.

Fifa has not confirmed full details of how the process will work for the 2026 World Cup, but it is expected to work in a similar way to MLS - which also has a licensing agreement with Fanatics. Each team is provided with a stock of debut patches, which are stuck to a player's shirt on the upper-right chest with adhesive before they make their debut. After the game, the patch is removed and placed on to a unique collectable trading card.

The card is then sent to Topps to be randomly inserted into a Chrome MLS hobby box, which retail at about $120 (£88). Each hobby box contains 21 packs of four cards. Two cards in each complete box are unique autograph cards.

The MLS cards are autographed by the player, though it has not been confirmed if this will be the case for the World Cup. As the Fanatics deal does not kick in until 2031 they will not be available to buy until after this date. It means there will be a huge stock of debut cards from the 2026 and 2030 finals to create a set of World Cup collectables.