Topps has announced plans to release a collectible trading card with the now-famous photo of Lionel Messi with future soccer star Lamine Yamal as a baby.

The extraordinary photograph, which shows Messi bathing a six-month-old Yamal as part of a charity photoshoot in 2007, has taken on a remarkable significance almost two decades later. At the time, Messi was a rising Barcelona star who would go on to become one of the greatest soccer players in history, while Yamal was only an infant.

The iconic Messi & Yamal photoshoot is going on a 1-of-1 trading card 🥹

Arriving in Topps Stadium Club UCC later this year. pic.twitter.com/gDWljwXLJ7

— Topps (@Topps) July 20, 2026

But today, the pair represent two generations of soccer greatness, with Yamal emerging as one of the sport’s brightest young talents and the player now wearing Barcelona’s iconic No. 10 shirt — the same number once worn by Messi. On Sunday, 19-year-old Lamal, the youngest ever to play for Spain’s national team, even went head-to-head with Messi at the World Cup final. Spain ultimately lifted the trophy, defeating Messi and Argentina 1-0.

Following the match, Topps revealed it was transforming the photo of Messi holding Yamal as a baby into a highly collectible trading card.

According to a post shared by Topps on X (the platform formerly known as Twitter) on Monday, the trading card will be a unique 1-of-1 collectible, randomly inserted into boxes of the upcoming Topps Stadium Club UCC set, set for release later this year.

The Associated Press (AP) reports that the photo came about in 2007 when FC Barcelona players made a charity calendar for local newspaper Diario Sport and Unicef. There was a raffle to find children and families who would pose with the players and Yamal’s family happened to win. Joan Monfort, who works as a freelance photojournalist for the AP, tooks the images

Back then, Messi was 20 years old and while he was a very exciting talent, but he was not yet the outstanding player of his generation or GOAT as he is known today.

“Messi is a pretty introverted guy, he’s shy,” Monfort says of the awkward photo shoot in which he says Messi was unsure of how to interact with baby Yamal.

“He was coming out of the locker room and suddenly he finds himself in another locker room with a plastic tub full of water and a baby in it. It was complicated. He didn’t even know how to hold him at first.”

On Friday, Messi reflected on the now-iconic photograph of himself with a baby Yamal, describing the unlikely journey that took them from a bathtub photoshoot nearly two decades ago to facing each other in a World Cup final.

“He is one of the best players in the world right now, so I wish him the best. He’s only 19 years old and he has all of his future ahead,” Messi said in Spanish to AP. “That picture, it was crazy. Him as a baby, and now we are facing each other. What a crazy picture. I just wish him the best of luck.”