Argentina’s Mac Allister scores at the 2026 World Cup, and his NFT cards are barely moving

Alexis Mac Allister scored a header for Argentina against Switzerland in the 2026 FIFA World Cup knockout stage, adding another chapter to his rise from Brighton cult hero to World Cup winner to genuine global star.

Argentina came into the Switzerland match with momentum. They had already survived a 3-2 comeback against Egypt, the kind of result that reminds everyone why Lionel Scaloni’s squad remains the most dangerous team to face in a tournament knockout bracket.

Mac Allister has been a regular starter under Scaloni since Argentina lifted the trophy in 2022, and his role as a box-to-box midfielder has only grown in importance. He joined Liverpool in June 2023 on a five-year deal worth an initial fee of £35 million. Partnering with Enzo Fernández in central midfield, Mac Allister gives Argentina an engine that can defend, progress the ball, and arrive late into attacking areas.

The NFT angle: small numbers, smaller enthusiasm

On platforms like Sorare, Mac Allister exists as a digital trading card. Sorare is a fantasy football game built on blockchain infrastructure, where player cards are minted as NFTs and traded between collectors and fantasy team managers.

Recorded sales of Mac Allister’s Sorare cards have come in at $22.73 and $53.86. For a player starting for the reigning World Cup champions at a knockout stage match broadcast to hundreds of millions of viewers globally, those price points reflect a market that has not yet figured out how to convert televised stardom into digital asset demand.

Panini Prizm World Cup NFTs featuring Mac Allister are also available on-chain. No major crypto tokens or protocols have attached themselves to Mac Allister or to the broader Argentina World Cup run.

Sorare has stayed relevant by tying card utility directly to fantasy sports gameplay, which means cards hold value partly as playing assets, not just as collectibles. But the gap between on-pitch performance and card price remains wide. A Mac Allister header in a World Cup knockout match is the kind of moment that, in theory, should spike secondary market activity on his digital cards. The fact that recorded sales sit below $60 suggests the conversion funnel from casual sports viewer to NFT collector is still broken.

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