Match Attax is Topps' flagship football trading card game – one of the best-selling card collectible products in the UK and Europe, with an officially licensed partnership with the UEFA Champions League. The project covered the design of the digital companion app and game experience, bringing the physical card collection to life through an interactive platform for a young, highly engaged audience of football fans.
Impact
10M+
Packs sold annually across Europe
UEFA
Official Champions League licence
#1
Best-selling football trading card game in the UK
650+
Unique player cards per season
iOS & Android
Cross-platform digital experience
4.6★
App store rating
The Approach
The core design challenge was bridging the physical and digital collecting experiences without losing the tactile excitement that makes trading card games compelling. The app needed to feel like a natural extension of the physical product – familiar to existing fans, but offering digital-only features that justified the download.
The visual language leant into the energy of football – bold typography, dynamic card animations, and the iconography of the Champions League – while maintaining usability for a younger audience. Every interaction was designed to reward engagement: from pack opening animations to squad-building and live match integration.
Design Process
The project kicked off with an extensive review of the existing app alongside player research sessions with children aged 8–14 – the primary audience – and their parents. Key insights centred on the importance of the "pack opening" moment, the desire for social features, and frustrations with navigation in the previous version.
Concepts were developed across three distinct design territories before converging on the final direction. Prototypes were tested with target users at multiple fidelity stages, with particular focus on the card trading flow and the onboarding experience for new collectors joining mid-season.
Design System & Scalability
A core outcome of the project was a robust, mature design system built to scale across multiple product variants. The component library, token structure, and visual language were architected from the outset to be licence-agnostic – meaning the system could be adapted to new competitions and markets without rebuilding from scratch.
This proved its value when a version of the game was rebranded for the Bundesliga. Rather than commissioning a new design, the existing system was reskinned to reflect the Bundesliga identity – swapping colour tokens, typography, and key brand assets while retaining the underlying component architecture. The result was a significantly faster and more cost-effective delivery, with design and production time reduced considerably compared to a ground-up approach.
Recognition
The redesigned Match Attax app launched to strong reviews from both the gaming and football communities, with the pack opening experience singled out across social media as a significant improvement. The project was cited by Topps as a key driver of renewed engagement among lapsed users.
- 2021 UK App Awards – Shortlisted, Best Sports App
- 2021 Licensing International Awards – Best Digital Extension of a Licensed Property
