Adding stickers of your favourite players into an album is arguably one of the few innocent pleasures that remain for football fans. But children and seasoned collectors have discovered that even this gentle pastime has been affected by modern football’s passion for money.
The Panini sticker album has been a staple of international tournaments since the 1970s. But after Uefa sold the rights for stickers for Euro 2024 to its American rival Topps, Panini launched an alternative “England 2024” album, using rights held by England, Italy, Germany and France that were not part of Uefa’s deal.
It means that fans cannot fill an album with players in their kits from all 24 nations in this year’s tournament, and some big names are missing from the official Topps collection, including Phil Foden and John Stones. To make up the numbers Topps has been forced to include lesser-known footballers, including some who have never even played for England such as the Leicester City defender Luke Thomas.
Now the Consumers’ Association, publisher of Which? magazine, has criticised Uefa, Panini and Topps for an “embarrassing episode” that has “left football fans in the lurch”. Collectors are disappointed, and some have accused Panini of pettiness, while others are concerned future tournaments will be even more disrupted.
“It’s really disappointing that Uefa and sticker companies have left football fans in the lurch ahead of the Euros,” Lisa Webb, Which? consumer law expert, said. “Football bosses and sticker companies need to put supporters first and come up with a solution to ensure there is no repeat of this embarrassing episode.”
Stickers may be simple, but they are governed by image rights and intellectual property. Panini had supplied sticker albums for every European championships since 1977 and also holds the World Cup rights. But in 2022, the US firm Fanatics – which supplies merchandise including replica shirts for England – bought Topps and hopes to boost trading card culture in Europe.
And sticker collecting is a gateway to trading cards, which is hugely popular in the US, with rare cards autographed by sports players fetching huge sums – a collector paid $12.6m (£9.9m) in 2022 for a card of baseballer Mickey Mantle.
Fanatics bought Uefa rights to Champions League stickers and cards and is looking to expand its offering, but is also in a courtroom battle with Panini in the US over its acquisition of Topps and its conduct in the US.
Meanwhile, fans have been left to pick up the pieces. Jay Gibbs, 22, said a pack of 10 Panini stickers cost him £1 in 2013 when he started collecting aged 11. Now a 12 pack costs £2.50 – almost double the cost after taking inflation into account. “Every single year the collections get bigger – it’s not a kid’s hobby any more, which is a shame really.” Most of the people watching his YouTube channel, Collectors FC, are aged 20 to 50, he said.
Matt Blazey, who has been collecting for 20 years and runs the Blazey Collects channel, said: “Everyone remembers, especially older collectors, getting the stickers in their childhood. My first one was in Euro 2004 on a bus to France on a school trip.“Panini releasing an album that is a direct competitor to the Euros album feels a little bit petty. A lot of people have seen Topps taking the Euros as Americans coming in and taking something from Panini, an Italian company that has a very rich heritage in Europe. So I think some people have felt threatened.”
Blazey said Uefa and Fifa should bear some responsibility. “If you’ve got the licence for a tournament, you should have access to all nations for that tournament,” he said.
Laura Sinderson, who runs Football Collecting Couple with her partner Euan Kane, said: “There’s people that have collected their whole lives and they’ve got Panini, Panini, Panini and now Topps. The Panini ultra fans are annoyed.”
Uefa said it ran a “fair and competitive tender process” adding that some players and national kits had been missing in previous tournaments.
Panini said it had been “synonymous with football for over 60 years” and said its England collection was “to enable fans to collect top quality stickers in 100% official kits, in a concise and completable collection”.
Topps, in a statement that resolutely refused to name its rival, said: “While we are disappointed that a small number of players are missing, this is due to the tournament’s former sticker partner having blocked certain parts of the collection to the detriment of the fans. Unlike the former sticker partner, we are committed to the fans and believe the offering of stickers and cards – and range of current and former players – will get everyone excited for the tournament.”
