Lamine is unmarkable, even on a commercial level: 1.32 million people have bought his jersey. La Pulce is second with 40 thousand shirts less and Cristiano only 7th. But what is the secret to the success of the 18-year-old phenomenon?
The best-selling footballer’s shirt in the world in 2025? SportBible reveals to us that it was that of Lamine Yamal: 1.32 million pieces. Ok, it’s not a big surprise, if Cucurella had told us, we would have reacted differently. Barcelona’s baby champion won the European Championship with Spain as protagonist; in the Champions League semi-finals he raised hell; he came close to winning the Ballon d’Or. There is. Yet the data deserves a bit of wonder. Messi and CR7, of the Golden Balls, have won 13 between them, but in the SportBible ranking, the Pulce is second with 40 thousand shirts less and Cristiano only 7th.
unmarkable
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At least at the store level, Yamal has closed the era of the two Goats who ruled football for 20 years. Messi and CR7 still enchant, but in a nababba suburb. Barcelona brings a unique global appeal, even superior to that of Real Madrid, in fact Lewandowski is third ahead of Mbappé. But there’s more. Yamal, when he returns from training, doesn’t work out his abs at home. He has two parents who live on his shoulders, even in a grotesque way, from whom he distances himself when, for example, they organize paid dinners. He often walks the ledge of political correctness, with opponents and at private parties. Lamine is unmarkable everywhere. Messi or CR7’s shirt is Superman’s costume: dreaming of playing with their superpowers. For a boy, Yamal’s shirt is also James Dean’s jacket: dreaming of living like him, free, independent, damned talented, bold, with a sea of future ahead, to attack while running, with the wind in your face.