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Players who make their first tournament appearance at this summer’s Fifa World Cup will wear a debut patch on their shirts. <\/b><\/p>\n
Players such as Erling Haaland and Lamine Yamal will make their World Cup bows this summer – as will every player in the Scotland squad.<\/p>\n
It is part of a new licensing deal which will see Fanatics replace Panini as Fifa’s partner for trading cards and stickers from 2031.<\/p>\n
The patches will be removed from shirts after a player’s debut and turned into collectable Topps trading cards. <\/p>\n
The design of the World Cup patch has not yet been finalised. <\/p>\n
Debut patches have been used in US sports for several years, and were introduced into Major League Soccer in 2024.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
After the game, the patch is removed and placed on to a unique collectable trading card.<\/p>\n
The card is then sent to Topps to be randomly inserted into a Chrome MLS hobby box, which retail at about $120 (\u00a388). Each hobby box contains 21 packs of four cards. Two cards in each complete box are unique autograph cards.<\/p>\n
The MLS cards are autographed by the player, though it has not been confirmed if this will be the case for the World Cup.<\/p>\n
As the Fanatics deal does not kick in until 2031 they will not be available to buy until after this date.<\/p>\n
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. <\/p>\n
This summer’s event is likely to produce upwards of 600 cards. <\/p>\n
Cape Verde, Curacao, Jordan and Uzbekistan will make their first appearances.<\/p>\n
Austria, the Czech Republic, DR Congo, Haiti, Iraq, New Zealand, Norway, Paraguay, Scotland and Turkey are back after long absences. <\/p>\n
Algeria, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Ivory Coast return for the first time in 12 years and will have almost complete squads of debutants.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n