Topps and Panini Unveil 2026 Holiday Card Releases

Holiday card season arrives with Topps and Panini

The sports card hobby is getting a full dose of holiday spirit as Topps and Panini roll out a slate of 2026 Christmas-themed releases across baseball and football. The lineup includes returning favorites, new product debuts and retail-friendly formats built for collectors looking to add some seasonal flair to their breaks.

Topps is leaning into its long-running holiday tradition with baseball and football editions, while Panini is adding a new manga-inspired football product and bringing back its annual Absolute Football Countdown Calendar. Together, the releases cover hobby boxes, retail boxes, tins, Mega boxes and Advent Calendars, giving collectors multiple ways to chase rookies, autographs, memorabilia and festive inserts.

2026 Topps Holiday Baseball brings back festive chase cards

Topps Holiday Baseball continues a run that began in 2016, and the 2026 edition again gives the flagship baseball format a winter makeover. The product features a 200-card base set with veterans and rookies, along with a wide range of holiday-themed formats that include holiday boxes, collector tins, Advent Calendars and Mega boxes.

Topps is adding two new parallels to the lineup this year: metallic Gingerbread man and Snow Days. The familiar hidden elf variations also return, with five different elf versions for each card. Those variations remain one of the product's signature holiday touches and add another layer to the chase.

The base set follows the familiar Topps Holiday formula, giving collectors a seasonal version of the flagship baseball design. The product is built around the same mix of stars, rookies and chase content that has made the holiday release a staple for more than a decade.

2026 Topps Holiday Baseball box formats

Mega boxes include 10 packs of 10 cards and one guaranteed hit per box in the form of an autograph, relic or Chrome base card. MSRP is $29.99.
Hobby tins carry an MSRP of $44.99 and include three packs of 59 cards for a total of 177 cards. Each tin includes six exclusive Holiday Lights parallels.
Advent Calendars include 24 packs and carry a suggested retail price of $59.99. They feature exclusive die-cuts and are designed as a daily countdown to Christmas.

Topps is also adding oversized Christmas tree ornament box toppers in Mega boxes. Hobby tins include a candy cane-themed die-cut ornament insert, while the Advent Calendars offer Making the Nice List and Chrome Plaid parallels exclusive to that format.

Collectors can also find holiday variation backs in SP and SSP forms. Among the rookies mentioned in the checklist preview are Milwaukee Brewers pitcher Jacob Misiorowski, New York Yankees pitcher Cam Schlittler and Chicago White Sox first baseman Munetaka Murakami.

2026 Topps Holiday Football adds candy cane borders and festive inserts

Topps Holiday Football follows the same seasonal approach, giving the football flagship a Christmas makeover with a candy cane border and a design filled with bright stars and shiny holiday accents. The product includes the 2026 rookie class, with Fernando Mendoza specifically highlighted among the names to watch.

The checklist also includes a large autograph component, with 200 signing subjects and more than 50 first-year players among them. That gives the product a mix of rookies, veterans and signed cards that should appeal to collectors looking for holiday-themed football content.

Topps is building the insert lineup around the season with several themed chase cards. Snow Globe Moments places players inside a snow globe design, while Deck the Fields features players against snowy backdrops. The Holiday Spirit variation uses a white background with Christmas imagery, and Rookie Holiday Spirit variations add wrapped gifts to the design.

One of the more notable additions is the Dear Santa patch autograph insert, which includes a festive memorabilia-autograph format. The source also points to a Fernando Mendoza RPA in this style, giving collectors a holiday-themed rookie patch autograph chase.

Topps is also including Chrome variations of both veterans and rookies, adding another layer to the product for collectors who prefer a shiny parallel look. The release will be available in hobby and retail formats, with pricing expected to align with the baseball holiday products.

2026 Panini Mangaverse Football debuts with manga-inspired artwork

Panini is introducing 2026 Mangaverse Football as a new holiday-season release that blends football cards with manga and graphic novel-inspired artwork. The 100-card base set includes top college players, pros and football legends, all presented in a stylized format that gives the product a distinct look from Panini's other football releases.

The checklist features star autographs and artist inserts, including Way of the Warrior, Murals and Origin Story. The set also includes former NFL standouts such as Lawrence Taylor, Adrian Peterson and Mike Singletary, who appears in the product as “Samurai” Mike Singletary.

Panini is offering the product in both hobby and retail formats. Hobby boxes include six cards per pack and six packs per box, with one autograph, three numbered parallels and six inserts per box. Hobby collectors can also search for SSP inserts Blank Slate and Starcade.

Retail boxes come in ornament-style packaging and are available at major retailers including Walmart, Target and Dick's Sporting Goods. Retail boxes include two exclusive parallels, three inserts and one Winter Wonderland insert per box. The retail format also features holiday-themed Warrior Wonderland inserts with exclusive bronze, red and green parallels.

While the product is unlicensed, the release is designed to tap into the popularity of manga-style artwork and pair it with a mix of current college talent, pro players and legends. The result is one of Panini's more visually distinctive football products of the season.

2026 Panini Absolute Football Countdown Calendar returns

Panini is also bringing back the annual Absolute Football Countdown Calendar, a holiday release built around 24 daily packs. Each calendar contains 24 three-card packs, giving collectors a daily rip through the holiday season.

The 2026 edition features NFL stars and legends from the past along with top college players, including quarterbacks Trinidad Chambliss, Dante Moore and Julian Sayin. The product includes popular inserts such as Base White Snow and ultra-rare KABOOM! parallels.

Each calendar includes one Holiday Suit Memorabilia card and 24 inserts or insert parallels. Cases contain eight calendars, which works out to 576 cards per case.

The format makes Absolute Football one of the more interactive holiday products on the calendar, with a pack-a-day structure that fits the season and gives collectors a steady countdown through December.

Holiday releases give collectors multiple formats to chase

Between Topps and Panini, the 2026 holiday lineup offers a broad mix of products for collectors who want festive designs, rookie content, autograph opportunities and memorabilia cards. Topps is leaning on its established holiday baseball and football releases, while Panini is adding a new manga-inspired football product alongside its annual countdown calendar.

With Mega boxes, tins, Advent Calendars, ornament-style retail boxes and hobby formats all in play, the season's checklist includes a wide range of chase cards and holiday-specific inserts. For collectors looking to add Christmas-themed cards to their stash, the 2026 releases provide plenty of options across both major brands.