Football card binders

• A growing collection or swaps: the Sleek 9-pocket binder holds 360 cards in side-loading pockets and slips into a school bag for swapping.
• A whole season or several: the Dragon 9-Pocket holds up to 900 cards in a zip PU leather case.

Check your cards are standard size (about 63 × 88 mm) before you buy. Stickers and oversized cards won't fit 9-pocket pages.

Young collectors swapping Match Attax in the playground and needing somewhere better than a shoebox. Parents who want a binder that survives a school bag. Fans collecting one club, one league or one player across several seasons. And collectors with a few rookie or numbered cards they'd like to see every day rather than keep in a drawer.

Topps Match Attax and most Panini football trading cards are standard trading-card size, 63 × 88 mm, the same as Pokémon cards. They fit 9-pocket pages sleeved or unsleeved. Thicker relic, patch and memorabilia cards are the exception: they're much thicker than a base card and may not fit standard pockets, so keep those in their own holders. Stickers from sticker albums aren't cards and don't suit pocket pages either.

• Capacity: a season of base cards plus extras soon adds up. 360 cards (Sleek) suits one collection; up to 900 (Dragon) suits several seasons. Try the binder calculator.
• Pocket size: nine pockets a side keeps a team sheet together on one page.
• Loading style: the Sleek's side-loading pockets help cards stay put when the binder is carried; the Dragon's top-loading pages are quick to fill and can be rearranged on the D-rings.
• Closure: an elastic strap is slim and quick to open; a full zip seals all four sides for travel.

Base cards are fine in the pockets as they are. For rookies, limited editions and anything numbered, slide on a standard sleeve first: both of our 9-pocket binders take standard-size cards in standard sleeves, so you can mix sleeved and unsleeved cards on the same page.

Sort by club, then by player number, or keep each league on its own pages. Leave a spare page per club for new signings and updates. For valuable cards, sleeve them first. More tips in our best binder for sports cards and storing valuable sports cards guides.

Store the binder upright on a shelf, like a book, rather than in a stack where the weight presses on the pages. Keep it away from radiators and strong sunlight, and don't force extra cards into a pocket that's already full. Put cards in with dry hands, and check each pocket is empty before you slide the next one in. When a binder fills up, start a second one for the next season rather than squeezing cards in.