UEFA has announced that players making their first appearances in the Champions League will receive special “debut patches” on their jerseys starting with the 2026/27 season.
The initiative, part of a new agreement between European football’s governing body and sports merchandise giant Fanatics, will place small patches on the sleeves of debutants featuring the word “debut” incorporated into the competition’s iconic starball logo.
According to the announcement, the patch will be removed from the jersey immediately after the match and sent to Topps—Fanatics’ trading card subsidiary—where it will be embedded into a unique, player-signed trading card. The patches will undergo authentication before the cards are released to the public.
For players who enter the match as substitutes and make their first appearance, they will also qualify for the special patches. However, those named in the matchday squad who remain unused substitutes must wait until they actually take the field to earn the commemorative item.
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