Pele Rookie Card Sells for $1.3M; Soccer’s 1st Card Purchased for over $1M

Brazilian soccer star Pele now has the highest-selling soccer card ever. 

Sale of a 1958 Alifabolaget No. 635 Pele rookie card for $1.33 million will be finalized as soon as Monday, according to ESPN's Dan Hajducky. Fractional ownership company Rally Rd. is selling the card, which is the first $1 million soccer card ever sold. 

Chief product officer and co-founder of Rally Rd. told Hajducky:

"Soccer has gotten a lot of attention recently and this particular card has broken the record of 'most expensive soccer card' a couple of times. It was issued during the 1958 World Cup campaign, the true Pele rookie, none graded higher: It's kind of a holy grail for [soccer] cards."

According to population reports obtained by Hajducky, only six of these Pele cards have been graded a nine by PSA. None have received a perfect 10 grade. This particular card is graded a mint nine. 

Pele, a three-time World Cup winner, is considered to be one of the greatest soccer players of all time. He still holds the records for being the youngest World Cup winner (17 years, 249 days in 1958) and is Brazil’s No. 1 goal-scorer.