Beckham and Donovan fuel new UD Soccer release

Upper Deck recently released its exclusive 2010 Upper Deck Soccer set featuring the greatest players in Major League Soccer (MLS). The set is especially timely as the 2010 FIFA World Cup is set to begin in less than a month in South Africa and many of the players competing in the World Cup are included in the collection. What’s more, the set includes special subset and insert cards spotlighting many of the top women’s professional players in the world including superstars like Heather Mitts, Hope Solo and Amy Rodriguez.

“This is truly a collectible set of soccer cards,” said Jason Masherah, Upper Deck’s director of Sports Brands. “Not only does this year’s effort include many of the top names in Major League Soccer, but it pinpoints specific players from around the globe who will be representing their respective countries in next month’s FIFA World Cup competition. The fact that we’ve included some of the best women’s professional soccer players in the world is just icing on the cake.”

The 200-card base set includes 175 standard cards, along with two subsets: “Super Draft Rookies” (15 cards) and “WPS All-Stars” (10 cards). All 16 of the MLS teams are included in the set with eight to 12 top-notch players per squad represented. In this year’s FIFA World Cup, the U.S. Men’s National Soccer Team will field their best 11 men ever led by its fearless captain, Landon Donovan who doubles as a member of MLS’s Los Angeles Galaxy. By the same token, David Beckham, by far the most popular of international players to test his talents on U.S. soil as a member of the Galaxy, would normally be helping England battle in next month’s FIFA World Cup if not for an Achilles injury he suffered earlier this year.

The set’s sought-after lineup of insert cards leaves few stones unturned as autographs and game-used memorabilia cards abound. The “MLS Marks” and “WPS Marks” autograph cards will excite any pack collector as names like Donovan, Eddie Lewis and Donovan Ricketts from the Galaxy, Arturo Alvarez and Robbie Findley from the San Jose Earthquakes, and Steve Zakuani, Fredy Montero and Nate Jaqua from the Seattle Sounders top the list. Signed cards from the top ladies in the game can be found coming from Mitts (Philadelphia Independence) and Solo (St. Luis Athletica), along with Abby Wambach (Washington Freedom) and Karina LeBlanc (L.A. Sol).

The set’s strong selection of game-used jersey inserts includes “MLS Teammates Dual Materials” cards (numbered to 65) including outstanding combos like Beckham/Donovan, Brian McBride/Wilman Conde (Chicago Fire) and Jimmy Conrad/Josh Wolff (Kansas City Wizards).

Even rarer “Dual” and “Triple Materials” cards, numbered to 50 and 35, respectively, are also sprinkled into the product so be on the lookout for these choice chase cards. The “WPS National Pride Triple Materials” card (numbered to 50) showing Mitts, Solo and Rodriguez will no doubt be on every collector’s want list.

The product, which includes 12 cards per pack and 20 packs per box, is currently on store shelves.