Passion turned into a product: Footballers with the most expensive merch

We all have our diehard loyalties and favourite match moments, but sometimes watching football just isn’t enough – we want a piece of history to keep for ourselves. But what’s the cost of this passion for fans?

The football experts at Ticketgum sought to uncover which footballer has the most expensive merchandise. Using data from three leading sports memorabilia sellers, Ticketgum analysed the cost of all merch available, from signed shirts and items from matches, to replicas for devoted fans, to determine who is the most expensive player to support.

The football players with the most expensive merch

Ticketgum can reveal that the footballer with the most expensive merchandise is Golden Boy, Diego Maradona. The late Argentine’s legacy has cemented his position at the top of the list – with an average price of £3,556 per item – as he is regularly referred to as one of the greatest players of all time. Joint winner of Fifa Player of the 20th Century award, and twice setting the world record transfer fee, football fans have to pay a lot to own a piece of his history, and there is an eye-watering price tag of £10,000 for his most expensive piece – ‘Diego Maradona & Lionel Messi Signed Argentina Shirts In Classic Dual Frame’.

In second place is Kylian Mbappé, whose merch has an average price of £3,431. In contrast to Maradona’s decades-long career, Mbappé is just 25-years-old and his senior club career began only nine years ago. Despite this, Mbappé’s merch is fetching just £125 less per item, on average. Captain of the French national team, he has been dubbed the fastest player in the world by French newspaper La Figaro[1], and his most expensive item on sale is worth £10,000 – ‘Lionel Messi Signed Argentina Shirt & Kylian Mbappe Signed France Shirts In Official FIFA World Cup Dual Frame’.

Shockingly, Lionel Messi only ranks third for the most expensive merch of any footballer, at an average price of £2,367. Captain of both Inter Miami and the Argentinian national team, Messi has been named Fifa’s world’s best player a record eight times. Though not quite as costly on average, to be a Messi fan than it is to celebrate Maradona’s legacy or support Mbappé, his most expensive item is still £10,000, as it is the shared Maradona memorabilia – the ‘Diego Maradona & Lionel Messi Signed Argentina Shirts In Classic Dual Frame.’