The spell has been cast. After months of collectors wondering whether Topps was quietly retiring the brand, 2024-25 Topps Merlin UEFA Club Competitions arrived on December 19, 2025 — and year five of the most artistically distinctive soccer card set in the hobby didn't disappoint.
If you've never cracked a Merlin box before, here's the short version: think Topps Chrome DNA wrapped in medieval mystique, covering the UEFA Champions League, Europa League, and Conference League in one glorious chromium package. If you're a returning Merlin collector, you already know. You've been waiting.
Let's break down exactly what's inside the 2024-25 edition and why this Hobby Box deserves a spot in your collection.
Year Five, and the Biggest Set Yet
Every previous Merlin release topped out at 150 base cards. This year, Topps expanded the base set to 200 cards — the largest in the brand's history — covering players across all three UEFA club competitions. The checklist opens strong: Jude Bellingham at #5, Kylian Mbappé at #9, Mohamed Salah at #11, Kevin De Bruyne at #14, Lamine Yamal at #19, and Erling Haaland leading the Shiny insert at S-1. It reads like a who's who of European football, because it is.
The Merlin design philosophy hasn't changed — clean photography on chromium card stock with a look that lets the image breathe — and that restraint is exactly what makes the parallel rainbow hit so hard visually when you pull one.
What's in Every Hobby Box
Each hobby box delivers 18 packs of 4 cards and comes loaded:
- 1 autograph card guaranteed per box
- 4 Atomic Refractor parallels — hobby exclusive, guaranteed per box
- 3 numbered parallel cards per box
- 2 base refractor parallels per box
- 1 Vintage Merlin Refractor — hobby exclusive
- 1 Merlin 1995 30th Anniversary card per box
- 6 insert cards per box
The Atomic Refractor is the headline Hobby exclusive — a starburst chrome pattern unavailable in any retail or Breaker's Delight format. Four guaranteed per box gives you four shots at a player you actually want in a finish that pops.
The Auto Checklist Is Stacked
This is where 2024-25 Merlin earns its price tag. The autograph content covers multiple subsets, and the confirmed signer list spans current stars, legends, and rising talents across every club in the set.
From Arsenal, Dennis Bergkamp, Thierry Henry, Myles Lewis-Skelly, and Ethan Nwaneri have confirmed autos in the set. AC Milan collectors can chase Ruud Gullit, Kaká, Santiago Giménez, and Mattia Liberali. Zlatan Ibrahimović, Clarence Seedorf, and Dida appear in the Ageless Alchemy Autograph subset. The Marks of Excellence subset — on-card autos on premium stock — features Lionel Messi and Sir Alex Ferguson as the flagship chases. Frank Lampard has a confirmed base auto under Chelsea colors. Jude Bellingham, Endrick, Vini Jr., Luka Modrić, Karim Benzema, Eduardo Camavinga, and Rodrygo are all signed in the set for Real Madrid collectors.
The Marks of Excellence cards featuring Messi are the grail-tier pull in this product. Without odds publicly released, hitting one is a genuine surprise — which is half the fun.
Inserts: Returning Favorites and New Debuts
Mystic Nights is back — the atmospheric, low-light insert that's become a Merlin signature. So is Ageless Alchemy, the swirling-background legends subset, and Merlin's Chosen One, which spotlights 25 of European football's most exciting young players.
New for 2024-25: Elite Society, a 15-card insert featuring the elite tier of current UEFA performers. Merlin's Gamers brings a TCG-style die-cut aesthetic that looks unlike anything else in the Topps soccer lineup. The Shiny — a nod to the playground-era shiny stickers from original Merlin albums — is one of the rarest pulls in the product, coming in at approximately one per two hobby cases.
Renaissance returns as a case-hit level insert, and the Merlin 1995 30th Anniversary cards celebrate three decades of one of the most beloved trading card brands in history — one guaranteed in every hobby box.
The Case Hit: Merlin's Match Ball Signatures
The most coveted pull in any Merlin hobby box is the Match Ball Signature — a card embedding a piece of ball material alongside a player's signature. It's a hobby-exclusive case hit, meaning you're not guaranteed one per box, but someone in every case is pulling one. This year Topps also introduced Dual Match Ball Signature cards, pairing two players on a single card — a step up from last year's booklet format.
Why the Hobby Box Is the Right Format
Merlin comes in Hobby, Breaker's Delight, and Blaster configurations. The Hobby Box is the only format with guaranteed Atomic Refractors, Vintage Merlin Refractors, and access to the full Match Ball Signature case hit pool. If you're buying one box to experience everything Merlin 2024-25 has to offer, Hobby is the play.
The Bottom Line
Year five of Topps Merlin UEFA is the deepest and most ambitious edition of the brand yet. The 200-card base set, the expanded rookie class, the legend-heavy auto checklist, and the exclusive Hobby hits combine to make this one of the most rewarding soccer card rips of the 2024-25 release cycle. Merlin has never had a Lamine Yamal-level rookie driving its value ceiling the way 2023-24 did — but what it does have is a checklist broad enough and deep enough that every club collector, legend hunter, and auto chaser has a reason to rip.
Order with confidence. Rip with excitement. Shop IfItsSports.com.
[→ Buy the 2024-25 Topps Merlin UEFA Club Competitions Hobby Box at IfItsSports.com]