Donovan Stars in 2011 Upper Deck Soccer

Upper Deck Co. has just released its exclusive 2011 Upper Deck Soccer set featuring the greatest players in Major League Soccer (MLS). The set, headlined by Upper Deck’s newly inked exclusive Soccer Spokesman Landon Donovan of the LA Galaxy, includes the league’s top stars including Thierry Henry and Rafa Marquez (New York Red Bulls), David Beckham (LA Galaxy), Charlie Davies (D.C. United), and Chris Wondolowski (San Jose Earthquakes). What’s more, the set includes special subset and insert cards highlighting many of the top players competing in Women's Professional Soccer (WPS) including five-time FIFA Women’s World Player of the Year Marta (Western New York Flash), Amy Rodriguez (Philadelphia Independence), Abby Wambach (magicJack) and Leslie Osborne (Boston Breakers).

“This is a terrific set of soccer cards,” said Jason Masherah, Upper Deck’s vice president of marketing. “Fans will get their first chance to collect cards of new MLS stars like Henry, Marquez and Davies, in addition to current stars like Landon [Donovan]. As always, we’ve pinpointed the biggest names in Major League Soccer, but we’ve also included a coveted collection of autographed cards and game jersey cards from these players that will surely get soccer fans everywhere excited.”

Donovan, who was just named MLS Player of the Week, has seven different cards appearing in the set, including autographed and game-used jersey variations. On average, collectors will pull four memorabilia cards and one autographed card featuring a start-studded assortment of players from every box.

The 200-card base set includes 175 standard MLS cards, along with 12 WPS regular cards and two subsets: “MLS Super Draft” (10 cards) and “WPS Draft” (three).

But it’s the revered lineup of insert cards that will keep soccer fans cracking pack after pack. The “MLS Marks” (58) autograph cards, for example, include signatures from players including Donovan, Juan Pablo Angel and Donovan Ricketts from the LA Galaxy; Brad Davis and Brian Ching from the Houston Dynamo; Wondolowski, Bobby Convey and Ryan Johnson from the San Jose Earthquakes; and Steve Zakuani and Kasey Keller from Seattle Sounders FC. A total of 18 players featured in the “WPS Marks” autographed lineup include Marta, Rodriguez, Wambach and Osborne, along with Christine Sinclair (Western New York Flash) and goalkeeper Nicole Barnhart (Philadelphia Independence).

The set’s strong selection of game-used jersey inserts includes “MLS Teammates Dual Memorabilia” cards (numbered to 75) including outstanding combos like Beckham/Donovan (Galaxy), Henry/Marquez (Red Bulls); and Keller/Fredy Montero (Seattle Sounders FC). Even rarer “Dual Materials - Premium Series” and “Quad Materials - Premium Series” cards, numbered to 25 and 10, respectively, are also sprinkled into the product so be on the lookout for these choice chase cards. The extremely limited “WPS Superstars Quad Materials – Premium Series” card featuring Marta, Rodriguez, Wambach and Sinclair will no doubt be on collectors’ wish lists.

Upper Deck’s 2011 Soccer set, which includes 12 cards per pack and 20 packs per box, is currently on store shelves.