LEGO Editions 2026 World Cup set reviews – Mbappé, Messi, Ronaldo and Vini Jr. are the stars
There is a clear winner in the collection of LEGO Editions 2026 World Cup sets on shelves now, and thankfully it’s those that put the real stars of the show front and centre.
In the run-up to the 2026 World Cup this summer, the LEGO Group is releasing a sizeable range of football-themed sets under the new LEGO Editions theme. With this theme geared towards building a connection between fan and star, how do these sets fare?
Below are reviews for six of the eight LEGO Editions football sets provided for review by the LEGO Group. Our review of 43016 Cristiano Ronaldo – Football Legend and 43015 Lionel Messi – Football Legend can be found here, whilst we’ve also taken a closer look at the four named footballer minifigures in more detail here.
43033 2026 U.S. Soccer National Team Jersey review
Price: £19.99 / $24.99 / €24.99 Pieces: 167 Release: May 1, 2026
Paying homage to one of the 2026 World Cup hosts, 43033 2026 U.S. Soccer National Team Jersey is a small, straightforward LEGO set offering a buildable plaque with the US team’s shirt spread across it, bordered by stars and stripes and accompanied by two minifigures representing the team in home and away kits respectively.
As a concept it’s simple and as a build it’s pretty basic and short, but there are nice design touches throughout, including the ability to swap out the male players for female players. Unfortunately, the option to swap out the number on the back to any of the provided options in the generous sticker sheet is not actually possible as you only get two 2×4 plates to sticker – so whatever you go with first is also final.
For what Editions is trying to achieve as a new theme, 43033 2026 U.S. Soccer National Team Jersey ticks a lot of boxes, offering a LEGO representation of fandom for one of the upcoming World Cup’s hosts. Hopefully there are other national teams in the pipeline, and ideally without printed numbers on the minifigure shirts and shorts – that’s the only trick really missed with this set, because otherwise those minifigures would have been very collectible outside of the set itself.
43032 FIFA World Cup 2026 Official Emblem review
Price: £19.99 / $24.99 / €24.99 Pieces: 298 Release: May 1, 2026
43032 FIFA World Cup 2026 Official Emblem merges the official logo for the 2026 World Cup and the FIFA World Cup trophy for a pretty effective – albeit imperfect – LEGO build that very nicely symbolises the creative direction the LEGO Group is looking to establish with Editions.
That is fan-based entry points into (in this case) sports-based teams and events, and a small buildable World Cup placed in front of the quite eye-catching 2026 World Cup logo is very much in tune with that. The build is fairly straightforward and quick, with the logo coming together very nicely and the mini World Cup build looking almost great too, impressively so for the scale.
All that being said, there are three issues to take with 43032 FIFA World Cup 2026 Official Emblem, all relating to the three printed elements. The white ‘FIFA’ tile feels shoehorned in by the game’s governing body at a time when sensitivity around their politicised actions in recent times is high. There’s no set without FIFA, so there’s logic for why it’s there, even if it will rankle more than a few fans. Thankfully, it’s an issue easily remedied by just removing it.
The other two issues aren’t easy to fix, though, and both centre on the print across the trophy itself. For one thing, ‘FIFA’ is printed in a much larger font size than ‘WORLD CUP’ which again feels unnecessary and quite disingenuous when in reality they are more evenly matched in size. The second issue is in the gap between the two pieces. It should read FIFA WORLD CUP, but it has ended up reading more as ‘FIFA WORL DCUP’.
43032 FIFA World Cup 2026 Official Emblem is a fun one to put together, but unwelcomely compromised by those printed parts.
43013 Kylian Mbappé – Football Highlights review
Price: £24.99 / $29.99 / €29.99 Pieces: 490 Minifigures: 1 Release: May 1, 2026
The stars of the LEGO Editions range of tie-in 2026 World Cup sets thankfully feature the genuine stars of the show – the players – and offer up some of the most affordable in the range to boot.
43013 Kylian Mbappé – Football Highlights, alongside similar sets for Vinícius Júnior, Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi, takes not only one of the game’s biggest stars right now to put him front and centre of his own, personalised LEGO set, but also his story and, to some degree, a host of things intrinsic to his identity.
Packed across a 490-piece build are all sorts of details – subtle and overt – that speak to Mbappé’s place as one of France’s star players heading into the 2026 World Cup. There’s the big ‘M’ coloured in the Tricolore, as well as two gold stars sat on top of the Arc de Triomphe (symbolising the two World Cups already won by Les Bleus), and a large 3D build of Kylian’s squad number, 10. The Paris landmark is there to represent Mbappé’s home town where he also played for a few years before moving on to Real Madrid.
Centre to 43013 Kylian Mbappé – Football Highlights, though, is the player himself, designed in wonderful minifigure form and placed shooting into a goal. The flames bursting from his heels nicely symbolise the quick turn of pace that is central to his game, whilst the similar flame element used to connect his feet to the ball just as effectively represent another facet to his play, being powerful, quick shots at goal.
Across the set there are little snippets of information worked into engaging LEGO techniques making for a final display-based piece that is fancier and more interesting to take in than you may otherwise expect such a set to be on paper.
For those more casually interested in football or in Mbappé there’s a lot to learn across 43013 and find a lot of enjoyment from what is a very playful set, whilst for those already familiar with one of the world’s current best players there’s everything across the set to appreciate in depth, and all thanks in no small measure to a far more reasonable price than most would expect.
43027 Vini Jr. – Football Highlights review
Price: £24.99 / $29.99 / €29.99 Pieces: 510 Minifigures: 1 Release: May 1, 2026
Coming in at 510 pieces, 43027 Vini Jr. – Football Highlights continues the same approach seen in 43013 Kylian Mbappé – Football Highlights, with attention this time on Mbappé’s Real Madrid teammate, Brazil international Vinícius Júnior.
The winger is represented in equally-excellent minifigure form, speeding across a V-shaped football pitch coloured to the Brazil flag and headlined with ‘Vini Jr 7’ in huge letters across the back.
Where 43013 detailed Mbappé’s Parisian roots, 43027 highlights Vini Jr.’s early years growing up in Rio de Janeiro where he then began his professional career with Flamengo – there’s a nice little nod to their red-and-black horizontal-striped kit in the mini favela build at the back of the LEGO model.
That build is also likely representative of the São Gonçalo neighbourhood that Vini Jr. grew up in and remains connected to via efforts from his charity, Instituto Vini Jr., to improve education for underprivileged children.
43027 Vini Jr. – Football Highlights may seem lighter on obvious details than the others in this mini collection, but the techniques used across the model are pretty interesting, whilst the final effect of the complete model works excellently for display – for instance, having the player’s name and number adorn the back is far more impactful too than just the number by itself, whilst Brazil’s national colours lend themselves to a naturally more vibrant final piece, nicely bordered by Rio’s beaches…
43012 Cristiano Ronaldo – Football Highlights review
Price: £24.99 / $29.99 / €29.99 Pieces: 490 Minifigures: 1 Release: May 1, 2026
43012 Cristiano Ronaldo – Football Highlights takes very much the same approach as the others in this sub-collection, this time offering a detailed celebratory tribute to one of the greatest footballers of all time.
Where 43027 and 43013 profile players at the top of their game right now in the football world, 43012 Cristiano Ronaldo – Football Highlights and 43011 Lionel Messi – Football Highlights tackle two of the most celebrated and decorated footballers of all time.
As a result, 43012 Cristiano Ronaldo – Football Highlights offers an excellent study of Portugal’s (and the world’s) most capped player, themed to his national team but with little nods to his status and the silverware picked up through his 20-year playing career so far.
The stand is shaped in an ‘R’ and vibrantly detailed in the Portuguese flag, whilst ‘CR7’ dominates the skyline and Cristiano’s trademark ‘Siuu!’ which he shouts after he scores a goal sits at the front alongside a little factfile.
All of this, though, best works as a frame for the centrepiece, which is a wonderfully detailed minifigure captured in mid-flight performing an overhead kick. The pose is simple but clever in its execution and serves to perfectly encapsulate the unique flair that has defined Ronaldo’s on-pitch identity.
43012 Cristiano Ronaldo – Football Highlights is a worthy nod towards one of the game’s best-ever players, and we can’t fault it.
43011 Lionel Messi – Football Highlights review
Price: £24.99 / $29.99 / €29.99 Pieces: 500 Minifigures: 1 Release: May 1, 2026
It’s a similar story for 43011 Lionel Messi – Football Highlights, which, as with 43012 Cristiano Ronaldo – Football Highlights, takes so much of the story of one of the game’s greatest players and serves it up in charming LEGO style.
43011 Lionel Messi – Football Highlights is perhaps the most detailed of the four sets in this Football Highlights collection, and is the most subtle in how like the others it uses the player’s initial to shape the base of the build.
That diamond shape coloured in the Argentina flag hides the ‘M’ very well, upon which a host of Argentine-style villas coloured in different patterns to reflect Messi’s club career sit in front of a giant ‘10’.
Messi himself takes centre stage on the display stand in highly detailed minifigure form, thanks in no small part to that intricate print for his tattooed arm, while his trademark dribbling style is represented cleverly in the form of a pink zig-zag behind him.
Meanwhile, dotted throughout the inside of the build are a host of references to the incredibly successful career arguably the greatest of all time has enjoyed, including a playful nod to his record haul of Ballon d’Or awards, and (just as with the Cristiano Ronaldo set) a somewhat subtle nod to that ‘GOAT’ tag.
Everything comes together in the same way the others do in this sub-collection – it’s a unique thing to build, packed with little nods to the player in question, while the final model is colourful, imaginative and fun to set up and play with.
Our honest opinion: The Football Highlights sets are the stars of the entire wave of LEGO Editions football sets. They make for a strong and pleasingly affordable collection for LEGO and football fans alike, while each one has individuality in how it captures an essence of their respective subject matter in a highly creative way.
These sets were provided by the LEGO Group for review purposes.
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