The Athletic, it is nothing less than “one of the most striking changes in the history of the world of collectibles.” Thursday, May 7, FIFA (International Football Federation), organizer of the World Cup, announced a new partnership. Namely “an exclusive long-term licensing agreement that will allow Topps – a subsidiary of Fanatics – to produce football cards, stickers, and collectible card games for the World Cup and other FIFA events starting in 2031,” as specified by the media owned by the New York Times. Consequently, this means that albums of one of the biggest global sporting events will no longer be produced by the Italian company Panini, ending a historic partnership that has been in place since 1970.
A true nostalgic object for entire generations who grew up exchanging stickers in the vain hope of completing their collection, Panini albums have become cult objects over time for some. Proof, notes The Guardian, “a complete 1970 album sold for more than £10,000 [€11,570] in 2017.”
The album for the 2030 World Cup, which will take place in Spain, Morocco, and Portugal, will be the last Panini related to the queen of football competitions, but before this final edition that is likely to quickly become a collectible piece, the Italian company has already decided to go all out for the 2026 World Cup edition.
The album in question was presented on April 29, and, as explained by Corriere della Sera, “it will be the largest in history.” Logical, notes the Milanese media, since this time it will be necessary to find players from 48 national teams and not 32 as in the last edition in Qatar. Thus, summarizes the Italian daily, “the album will be composed of no less than 112 pages with 980 spaces intended to be filled by player stickers, coaches, emblems, etc… Compared to the World Cup in Qatar, there are 342 additional stickers.”
Duplicates and parallel markets
Gigantic, the album in question will also be “the most expensive to complete for enthusiasts who will want to try to complete it,” warns Corriere della Sera, since according to a quick calculation related to the cost of stickers in Italy, “it will cost at least 215 euros” to fill it all. And this is on the condition of not finding any “duplicates” in the packets, which is “statistically impossible,” states the Italian newspaper.
The most daring will therefore turn to “parallel markets” where the precious stickers are exchanged and bought for often much higher sums. Expensive, but fulfilling a childhood dream, especially when it comes to the (almost) last chance to do so, is priceless.
