Lamine Yamal Finest UCC Red Auto /5 Sells for $35k

A PSA-authenticated, PSA/DNA GEM MT 10 on-card autograph of Lamine Yamal’s early Barcelona era just cleared a strong five-figure mark at Goldin.

On November 30, 2025, Goldin sold a 2024-25 Topps Finest UCC Marks of Excellence Autographs Red Foil #EX-LY5 Lamine Yamal Signed Rookie Card, serial numbered 1/5, for $35,990. The card is slabbed PSA Authentic with a PSA/DNA GEM MT 10 auto grade.

Below, we’ll break down what this card is, why it matters to soccer collectors, and how this sale fits into the broader Lamine Yamal market.

The card at a glance

Full card ID

Player: Lamine Yamal
Team: FC Barcelona (Spain)
Season: 2024-25
Product: 2024-25 Topps Finest UCC (UEFA club competition)
Insert / Subset: Marks of Excellence Autographs
Parallel: Red Foil
Serial number: 1/5 (the first of only five copies produced)
Card number: #EX-LY5
Attributes: On-card autograph, low-serial-number parallel, rookie-year issue
Grading: PSA Authentic (card), PSA/DNA GEM MT 10 (autograph)

The "Marks of Excellence" line in Topps Finest UCC is a premium autograph subset that usually focuses on top-tier or high-upside players. The Red Foil parallel is an ultra-low print run version, with just five copies.

This is a rookie-year autograph rather than a flagship base rookie. For modern soccer, early licensed, pack-pulled, on-card autographs from a mainstream chromium product (like Topps Finest) are a key focus for collectors.

Grading details: PSA Authentic + PSA/DNA GEM MT 10

This copy is labeled "PSA Authentic" for the card itself and PSA/DNA GEM MT 10 for the autograph.

PSA Authentic (card): PSA confirms the card is genuine but does not assign a numerical condition grade (1–10). Reasons vary: the submitter may have requested “Authentic only,” or the card might have condition issues the owner preferred not to quantify.
PSA/DNA GEM MT 10 (auto): PSA’s autograph grading arm (PSA/DNA) has given the signature the highest 10 grade, indicating a bold, clean, well-placed autograph with no visible flaws.

For collectors of modern soccer autos, a 10-grade autograph is often as important—or more important—than the card grade, especially on low-serial, high-end pieces where eye appeal matters more than microscopic edge or corner wear.

Why this card matters to collectors

1. Lamine Yamal’s status in the modern soccer hobby

Lamine Yamal has quickly become one of the most closely watched young players in world football. As an attacking talent for FC Barcelona and Spain, he sits in a lineage of heavily collected Barca prospects.

In the hobby, that translates into:

Strong demand for his rookie-year issues
Increased attention on low-numbered parallels and on-card autographs
Intense early speculation around which of his many first-year cards will emerge as long-term “key” pieces

Topps has produced several different Yamal rookies and autos across products, but not all are equal in the eyes of collectors. Cards that combine:

A respected, high-end chromium brand (like Finest);
Official club licensing (Barca kit, UEFA club competition branding);
A clearly limited, numbered parallel; and
An on-card autograph

are generally treated as more important building blocks of his rookie portfolio.

2. Ultra-modern, low-serial autograph in a respected set

The 2024-25 Topps Finest UCC release fits into the ultra-modern era of trading cards: relatively new print runs, often with many parallels and chase cards. Within that landscape, true scarcity matters.

A Red Foil /5 parallel in a main auto subset stands out because:

Only five copies exist by design.
It sits just below the typical 1/1 “superfractor” or equivalent in rarity hierarchy, depending on the checklist.
Low-serial autos often become the reference points for serious collectors building “player runs” or high-end showcases.

3. Early Lamine Yamal autograph

Collectors often distinguish between:

Base rookies: non-autographed rookie cards, often widely available.
Rookie autos: first-year autographs, especially on-card.

This card is part of the rookie autograph lane for Yamal. While some collectors will continue to debate which specific product becomes his “definitive” rookie auto, a numbered-to-five, on-card Topps Finest UCC copy will likely remain on the short list of important early pieces.

Market context: how does $35,990 fit in?

When we talk about "comps" in the hobby, we mean comparable recent sales of the same card (or very similar versions) that help establish a rough market range.

For this specific card—2024-25 Topps Finest UCC Marks of Excellence Autographs Red Foil #EX-LY5 /5, PSA Authentic, PSA/DNA 10—public, repeated sales are naturally limited because:

Only five total copies exist.
Not all of them will be graded.
Some may be locked away in long-term collections.

As a result, there are very few exact-match comps. Most of the price context comes from looking at:

Other Lamine Yamal low-serial rookie autos across Topps products.
Different parallels within the same Marks of Excellence checklist.
Raw (ungraded) versions versus graded copies.

Within that framework, this $35,990 result at Goldin on November 30, 2025 sits in what can reasonably be described as a strong but not outlier range for a /5 Yamal rookie auto from a major chromium release with a GEM MT 10 signature. In general:

Non-1/1 but sub-10 serial number Yamal rookies and rookie autos from respected sets have been achieving solid five-figure results.
The first-printed serial number (1/5) can add some desirability for certain collectors, but that premium tends to be modest and inconsistent.

Because the population is so small and the grading label is “Authentic” rather than a numeric 9 or 10, each sale has to be viewed as an individual data point rather than a fully “settled” market price.

Factors that likely supported this result

Several elements probably contributed to this level of bidding:

Player trajectory
Lamine Yamal’s ongoing performances for Barcelona and Spain continue to drive attention. Young attacking players at elite clubs tend to command a premium when they show consistent impact in big matches.
Product reputation
Topps Finest has a long track record in the hobby as a premium chromium brand. For soccer, the UEFA club competition (UCC) versions position players in their most followed club environment, which appeals to many collectors who follow Champions League nights closely.
Scarcity and serial numbering
A genuine /5 autograph parallel is meaningfully scarcer than the more common /50, /99, or higher-number versions. Add in the serial 1/5, and you have a version that stands out on checklists and in showcases.
Autograph quality
A PSA/DNA GEM MT 10 grade is a reassuring signal for buyers that the signature is bold, clean, and well-preserved. For modern cards, this can be a central selling point.
Auction house visibility
Goldin is one of the major high-end auction houses in the hobby. Its audience, marketing reach, and bidder base tend to support competitive pricing on modern soccer grails.

How collectors might look at this card going forward

Without making predictions or giving investment advice, it’s fair to say this sale reinforces a few broader themes in the soccer card market:

Key autos matter as much as base rookies.
As more Yamal cards enter the market, truly low-numbered on-card autographs like this one remain a distinct tier separate from mass-printed rookie cards.
Ultra-modern can still be scarce.
Even in an era with many parallels, something like a /5 auto is genuinely hard to find and, practically speaking, may only surface at major auction houses from time to time.
Condition labels are nuanced.
A PSA Authentic / PSA/DNA 10 combo shows that collectors sometimes prioritize the certainty of authenticity and the strength of the autograph over chasing a PSA 10 card grade.

For player collectors, this particular copy—being 1/5 and carrying a GEM MT 10 autograph—sits right in the conversation as one of the more desirable early Yamal autos from a mainstream Topps chromium product.

Takeaways for newer and returning collectors

If you’re just getting into Lamine Yamal or modern soccer cards, here are some practical lessons from this sale:

Learn the hierarchy within a player’s rookie year.
Not every rookie card or rookie autograph is equal. Look at:
- Brand reputation (Topps Chrome, Finest, Museum Collection, etc.)
- Serial numbering (how many copies exist)
- Autograph type (on-card vs sticker)
- Licensing (club kits, UEFA/La Liga branding)
Use comps as a guide, not a promise.
For ultra-low print runs like /5, exact comps will be rare. Prices can move noticeably from one auction to the next as different bidders come and go.
Pay attention to grading labels.
- "Authentic" can still be perfectly acceptable, especially when the card is rare and the autograph is strong.
- A high autograph grade (like PSA/DNA 10) is particularly relevant on modern auto-focused cards.
Watch player news and performance.
Form, club situation, injuries, and international performances all influence collector sentiment. That doesn’t turn cards into investments, but it does affect demand and prices in the short and medium term.

Final thoughts

The $35,990 sale of the 2024-25 Topps Finest UCC Marks of Excellence Autographs Red Foil #EX-LY5 Lamine Yamal Signed Rookie Card (1/5) at Goldin on November 30, 2025 underscores how seriously the hobby is treating his earliest, truly scarce autographs.

For now, this card stands as a notable early benchmark in the ultra-modern Lamine Yamal market: a low-number, on-card auto from a respected chromium set, authenticated by PSA with a GEM MT 10 autograph grade, and chased aggressively enough to land firmly in the five-figure range.

Collectors watching Yamal’s trajectory—and the evolution of soccer’s ultra-modern high-end tier—will likely keep an eye on where cards like this trade next time they surface.