In the vast, historic, and oftentimes lucrative, world of sports collectables, and more recently over the past 30 years or so, trading card games (think Pokemon, Magic the Gathering, or Yu Gi Oh), these two iconic genres of memorabilia have traditionally occupied their own ecosystems amongst collectors. That  ranges from the casual hobbyist, to the wholly dedicated ardent. 

Still, the similarities between communities are notable: rarity rules the roost, there are seemingly as many “sets” of cards as there are players or characters to print onto the cards themselves, and the two have coexisted for decades without much crossover. That is until now. 

Enter the Five Star Dynasty 2023-24 Premiere Set of trading cards. Featuring an exciting group of seven college soccer players among the 60 collegiate student-athletes, representing over 40 institutions in the inaugural series, Five Star Dynasty’s Premiere Set seeks to forge a new intersection in the world of collectables, bringing two deeply passionate camps of hobbyists together to inspire a new generation of sports fans, gaming enthusiasts, scholar-athletes, and students seeking their best academic fit.  

Big West Defensive Player of the Year Giovanni Calderon headlines the soccer roster in the debut run of cards. The Cal State Fullerton standout also represents Puerto Rico on the international level. Fellow West Coast star Nick Fernandez (No. 55 in the TDS Postseason Top 100) from the vaunted Portland men’s soccer program is also part of it. An All-WCC First Team selection and the WCC Midfielder of the Year, he was also named to the All-Academic Team for the first time in his collegiate career in 2023.

Staying in the Pacific Northwest, Giana Riley (No. 100) is fresh off a sensational sophomore season. She helped power a dynamic Gonzaga attack, leading the Zags to the NCAA tournament with 12 goals and six assists. As a freshman, she also played on the basketball team. 

Standout players from around the country highlight the debut series. They include sophomore forward Daniel Ittycheria, a First Team All-Ivy League performer in 2023, U.S. youth international Mia Justus, a goalkeeper at Texas, Connecticut midfielder Sophie McCarthy, First Team All-SEC forward Kylee Simmons (Missouri – No. 52) and Nebraska defender Sarah Weber (No. 31), a back-to-back Big Ten First Team honoree.

Division III star Weyimi Agbeyegbe rounds out the group. Agbeyegbe is a striker at Washington & Lee in Southwest Virginia, where he played a key role in the team’s run to the national semifinals. A Third-Team All-American, he scored 13 goals last fall.

Weber reflected on the opportunity to serve as an example and inspiration to aspiring collegiate athletes.

"Right before kick off [in my first college game], I took a look around and saw so many young girls at our game,” she said. “It was such a surreal moment for me as I remembered when I would go to college soccer games to watch the players, wanting to be like them. I realized then I was fulfilling my dream while also inspiring the next generation to also follow their dreams. I knew then that I could influence young athletes in such a positive and motivating way while simply playing the sport I love." 

Five Star Dynasty’s 2023-24 Premiere Set prepares to bring a unique blend of TCG gaming elements and athlete highlights together in one package, aimed at bringing collegiate, and soon-to-be collegiate student athletes into the spotlight. Placing an emphasis beyond the major sports appealed to the represented soccer players.

“I'm super excited to be a part of [Five Star Dynasty] because it focuses on sports outside of football and basketball, and particularly in women's sports,” McCarthy said.

With a conscious nod to the space-like expansion and proliferation of endorsement opportunities afforded by Name, Image, Likeness (NIL) rules currently occupying a constantly evolving, frontier-like landscape in college sports, Five Star Dynasty offers athletes included in their product lines a share of revenue earned from those products, offering them a baseline to their NIL streams directly. It also offers mentorship and guidance on obtaining and managing other opportunities.

Five Star Dynasty CEO Ameer Kim El-Mallawany commented on the project’s aim to engage with, not only youth student-athletes, with the typically-found, team, statistic, and biographical details featured on the cards, but also teaching young collectors about the institutions featured athletes represent, their academic endeavors, as well as community-oriented extra curricular activities.

Featuring male and female student-athletes representing 16 disciplines, including seven NCAA Division I and III men’s and women’s soccer players at current count, the founding run of cards will feature 60 student-athletes representing over 40 institutions, along with a Limited Edition set featuring alternate artwork by Five Star Dynasty student-athlete Lyric Swann, who designed an alternate version of her own trading card, holographic “parallels”, and other, rarer subsets of the base set of cards, including an alternate art series featuring base set student-athletes who earned national championships in the 2022-23 academic year.

The 2023-24 Premiere Set will ship in May 2024, and is available for pre-order now on the Five Star Dynasty website, at www.fivestardynasty.com, with a 20% discount on all pre-orders in the month of February. In addition, club teams and programs can purchase boxes of 12 decks at the "dealer" discount of 50% and use the code YOUTHSPORTS to get a fourth box of 12 decks for free when purchasing another three.

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