Who is Hot & Not with the World Cup One Month Away

The 2026 World Cup is officially one month away. We will be covering the World Cup aggressively over the next month to help you get the most out of the World Cup from a collecting perspective. With the wide range of cards coming out between now and the end of the World Cup, there will be no shortage of chases for every collector.

With the World Cup a month away, we wanted to look at some of the players who have hot markets right now and some who are cooling off in the month leading up to the World Cup. All of our data will be courtesy of Card Ladder.

Hot - Lamine Yamal, Spain

Lamine Yamal's market is up a whopping 47.72% over the last month, with only Jadon Sancho, who is out of the picture for England, ahead of him. The Yamal market feels like it can only slow down with a catastrophic injury because his play on the field has been outstanding, and he's still just 18 years old.

He is a sure-fire starter for Spain in his World Cup debut.

Not - USMNT "Stars"

If you have had any hobby hype and played for the US Men's National Team, your market is likely down right now. And down big, at that.

Juventus Midfielder Weston McKennie has arguably played the best of the trio in our "Not" list, but he has the steepest drop-off from anyone in the soccer market over the last month. McKennie is down -36.67% over the last month. Not to be completely outdone, Gladbach Forward, Gio Reyna, is down -27.04% over the last month and looks like he has a real shot to miss the World Cup with his lack of playing time and poor play in Germany.

The biggest surprise is AC Milan Forward Christian Pulisic, who is only down -6.93% over the last month. He's been the biggest disappointment for the USMNT in 2026 and hasn't scored since a December 28th match against Verona in 2025 in Serie A, and hasn't scored a goal for the USMNT since November 18th, 2024, against Jamaica. The hobby hype is still real around Pulisic despite the incredibly bad run of form.

Hot - Harry Kane, England

You could argue pretty confidently that no one on the planet is hotter than Harry Kane right now. The Bayern Munich striker has 62 goals in 56 games this season for club and country. It's an impressive mark that the hobby community is finally taking notice after consistently being one of the most under-appreciated stars in the game while he was at Tottenham.

Kane's market is up 38.74% over the last month despite a Bayern Munich loss to PSG in the Champions League Semifinals.

Not - Eduardo Camavinga, France

The Real Madrid Midfielder, like Madrid themselves, have fallen into a poor run of form as of late. Eduardo Camavinga's market is down -15.81% over the last month as Madrid have stumbled and he remains off the scoresheet. Camavinga was highly-touted in 2020-21 rookie class, but has taken a back seat as he's played more of a defensive role at Madrid and for France.

Hot - Kevin De Bruyne, Belgium

It's safe to say Kevin De Bruyne is one of the best midfielders of his generation, and while he is 34 years old and starting to slow down a bit, he's still capable of incredible performances for Belgium. It has been a bit of a disappointing season in Italy with Napoli, as De Bruyne has just 5 goals and 1 assist in league play, and the team suffered an early knockout from the Champions League.

De Bruyne's market is up 25.24% over the last month as we head towards the World Cup.

We'll have much more in the coming month on the World Cup on Collectibles on SI. We'll have hobby previews of each group, under-the-radar players to buy early, players to sell high on, and much more. Plus, we'll look back at the historic sets of 2014 and 2018. We'll also look back at the history of the World Cup stickers and some of the top cards of historic players.

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