The Euros are still in full flow and whenever there’s a major football tournament my thoughts always turn to Panini sticker albums.
Ah, that wonderful smell of the adhesive.
I never ever finished them. Always a couple short, with the best intentions of sending off for the ones I needed, but never ever got round to it.
My mum would bring me home a couple of packets with her shopping every week. Such excitement opening them and if you saw some shiny foil in there, well wow!
You'd carry your doublers around everywhere with you, ready for swapsies in the vain hope of getting some obscure card you needed from some obscure kid that you'd just randomly bump in to outside of shops that your folks had gone in to.
Got, got, got, need, got, need, got, got.
[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
Few friendships were born out of this routine, you knew it was just business.
It also seemed impossible to complete your collection. Some stickers just didn't seem to exist. Others, mostly of eastern European teams it appeared, had obviously been the results of the repeat print button being stuck at the printers.
You'd hear the rumours that somebody knew someone who knew this kid that had the complete set, but you never saw the proof.
There are some out there who will have no idea what I’m talking about, so let’s have a quick history recap to explain.
Panini stickers are a huge deal around the world, especially in Europe and South America. Kind of like a cult kids classic, which many of us still carry on into adulthood (or force your own kids into adopting the hobby, when it’s really just an excuse for you!).
Panini have produced stickers, or figurines as they know them by in Italy where the company started, and sticker albums since 1961.
Collections on a whole host of subjects have been produced over the years and in particular football.
Originally they consisted of cards which needed glued into albums. Panini then made the revolutionary change of producing self-adhesive stickers in the early 1970’s and a craze was born which has continued to today.
The huge turning point in Panini’s popularity came in 1970 when they produced their first ever album for a football World Cup.
The ‘Mexico 70’ album was also their first collection where stickers were sold outside of Italy and adopted their now traditional multi-language notes and captions.
The albums grew in size and sticker count and the collection produced for the last World Cup in South Africa consisted of 640 stickers.
So if you’ve never seen a Panini sticker album, what did they look like inside?
Whether club or country, the team stickers usually consisted of around 20, with player headshots making up most of those. There were always two special ones though – the squad photo and the rarest of all, the foil club crest.
For the international tournament versions, you would also get sections of posters, stadia, host cities and mascots.
My brain is going into sentimental overload just thinking about it all!
For more background, check out a <a href="http://aftncanada.blogspot.ca/2010/04/swapsies-not-same-in-this-modern-age_19.html" target="_blank">blog post</a> I wrote about how our modern lazy ways has taken a lot of enjoyment out of Panini sticker collecting - <a href="http://aftncanada.blogspot.ca/2010/04/swapsies-not-same-in-this-modern-age_19.html" target="_blank">CLICKY</a>.
Also check out Sonja Missio's <a href="http://www.90minutesofhopp.com/2012/06/modest-proposition.html" target="_blank">90 Minutes of Hopp</a> blog for a modern day swap alternative she's trying to set up.
I’ve never collected the ones for the Euros, it’s always been World Cup ones for me, as the Euros have never really grabbed my attention all that much.
I still have my albums from the 1986, 1990, 2002, 2006 and 2010 World Cups. None of them finished of course, bar the last one (see the above article), and only last week bought some incomplete albums from the 1982, 1994 and 1998 finals.
I had to get them incomplete, partly for cost, partly so that they wouldn’t look out of place with the others, but primarily because I’m a saddo that wanted the fun of tracking down the missing stickers on ebay or wherever and acting like a kid again!
As that kid, I also collected the ones for the English football league. Can't remember if they did a Scottish one or if they did, if I even collected it. Sadly, and very very regrettably, they're long binned.
Nowadays, you can get them for the World Cup, the Euros, Copa America, the UEFA Champions League, club football and more, including their first ever Olympics album for the 2012 ones in London.
There have been a lot of albums produced for individual leagues around Europe and also for individual clubs.
The official <a href="http://www.paninionline.com/collectibles/institutional/bt/uk/index.asp" target="_blank">Panini website</a> has over 30 national sites you can browse through. If you're wanting a St Pauli sticker album, that's your place to go.
With such a market of Panini mad fans, there is a huge opportunity for Major League Soccer to give itself a massive promotional boost both here and abroad by signing a tie up deal with Panini to produce a MLS sticker album.
And you know what sticker fans, such an idea is not outwith the realms of possibility, as the company already have firm footholds in North America and with North American sports.
Panini acquired an exclusive license to produce NBA stickers in early 2009. A few months later, they bought over an American trading card company and with it, they inherited the rights to NFL licenses.
In 2010, they added the NHL to their list of licenses acquired.
MLS are missing out big time in the opportunity to grow their “brand”, and the entire League, both at home and worldwide.
A MLS Panini sticker album could be sold around the world if they wanted, but ultimately it would most likely just be kept to the North American market.
A lot of Panini fans elsewhere would want it though. Something new for their collections.
It happened with the 1990 “Story of the World Cup” set which was exclusive to South America but is now a popular item on ebay.
Looking at it from a domestic level, it would be a great opportunity for MLS to get their teams and their players out there.
Kids love collecting such stuff and what better way for fans of all ages to fully learn about the other players and teams in the League.
How many casual fans could actually name that many players from outwith their market, never mind know what they look like?
Just imagine the excitement as a kid rushes into his local store and buys a packet of stickers. Eagerly they tear it open and sees the face of Steven Lenhart peeking out at them!
Hmm, ok, a bad example. That might give him nightmares.
Kris Boyd. No. Wait.
Adam Moffat. Hmmm, that might just be me.
Davide Chiumiento. There ya go.
It can only be a win-win situation. More brand awareness nationally and internationally and added revenue to boot.
Considering the other leagues and sports that Panini produce sticker albums for, it would also put Major League Soccer in amongst the big boys and help shake off the less salubrious tag that the League has when it comes to quality from some.
If MLS want to become one of the top Leagues and destinations in the world as Don Garber says, this is a step towards it.
Only once your face has been immortalized a little sticker have you truly made it!
I have stickers of Jay DeMerit and Young-Pyo Lee to prove it. Not to mention Carl Valentine and Bobby Lenarduzzi. Barry Robson has also been immortalised in sticky form.
All it would need is interest from Panini (why would they turn down a cash cow?), and agreement from MLS and the MLS players union.
If you’re keen on the idea, then let’s do something about it and email Tanya Rojas, who is the Consumer Products Coordinator at MLS: <b>tanya.rojas@mlssoccer.com</b>.
Include a link to this article, asking, nay demanding, a Major League Soccer Panini sticker album.
Send a copy to Panini as well through their customer service page <a href="http://www.paniniamerica.net/custserv.cfm" target="_blank">HERE</a>.
Then sit back and wait for the chance to add a Russell Teibert sticker to your album. You know you want to.
The campaign starts here!
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