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to either return to collecting or expand their portfolio.

That included a sudden surge in interest from North Americans for football (‘soccer’) collectables (‘collectibles’). The phenomenon of the ‘rookie’ card or sticker has actually been of longstanding interest to those in many markets such as the USA, Canada and China and usually refers to the first, or at least an early card or sticker, for a particular player, usually produced in the player’s first year or major league season.

Fast forward to April 2021 and and one of Diego Maradona’s first ever Panini stickers – from the Calciatori 1979–80 album – was sold for $555,960 (£393,466) at a US auction. Although published far more recently, early Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo Panini cards and stickers now command many thousands of pounds, as does the first-ever sticker release for Kylian Mbappé from the 2016–17 Panini Foot release in France.

Pele’s Mexico 70 World Cup card is also a huge favourite with collectors while his earliest Panini issue – from the 1964–65 Calciatori album – is another certain to rise significantly in value as the years go on.

Football sticker collecting just got serious!

PANINI AROUND THE WORLD AFRICA CUP OF NATIONS

Africa’s growing impact on the World Cup during the 1980s made Panini’s entry into Africa inevitable, and what better place to start collecting than with the Africa Cup of Nations.

Panini’s first albums covering football in Africa centred around the Egyptian domestic game in the 1980s. Algeria, Morocco, Cameroon and Nigeria had produced stand-out displays in the World Cup tournaments from 1982 to 1994 and many of the continent’s top players had moved to top European clubs.

George Weah (Liberia), Lucas Radebe (South Africa), Moussa Saïb (Algeria), Hany Ramzy (Egypt), Kalusha Bwalya (Zambia), Anthony Yeboah (Ghana) and Daniel Amokachi (Nigeria) were all part of Panini’s debut African Cup of Nations ’96. There was even a section at the back for three non-qualifiers: Morocco, Senegal and Zimbabwe – offering up a few more names well-known to those in the UK, such as Moustapha Hadji (Morocco), and Zimbabwe pair Bruce Grobbelaar and Peter Ndlovu.

As with Yugoslavia in Panini’s Euro 92, Nigeria did not go on to compete in the finals due to political intervention. That reduced the field to 15 teams, with hosts South Africa – who replaced original hosts Kenya – facing Tunisia in the final. Mark Williams, who played for Wolverhampton Wanderers during that same 1995–96 season – scored twice as South

Africa earned their first title.

There was also a nod to previous tournaments – including those who had also starred in past World Cups – with stickers assigned to the likes of Lakhdar Belloumi (Algeria), Aziz Bouderbala (Morocco) and Roger Milla (Cameroon), as part of the introduction.

Africa Cup 2008 – staged in Ghana – was Panini’s next album covering the continent’s showpiece tournament, which had risen greatly in popularity around the world. The roll call in the 281-sticker collection reads like a Who’s Who of the leading players of the day: Michael Essien (Ghana), John Obi Mikel (Nigeria), Didier Drogba (Ivory Coast), Seydou Keita (Mali) and Eto’o of Cameroon (forgoing first name, Samuel, on his sticker) among many others.

Egypt’s own collection of stars upstaged them all, beating Ivory Coast 4–1 in the semi-final and then edging out Cameroon 1–0 in the final, thanks to a late goal from Mohamed Aboutrika.

Another Panini album – Africa Cup 2010 – was produced for the next tournament, with Egypt again triumphing in the Angolahosted event. Premier League players abounded in the 300 spaces provided: Alexandre Song (Cameroon), Joseph Yobo (Nigeria) and Salomon Kalou (Ivory Coast) were among those taking time out from the English Premier League for national team commitments.

There was also an early sticker appearance for Gabon striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang – as well as his brother Willy – who was making his way in the French league at the time, before prolific spells in Germany and England with Borussia Dortmund and Arsenal respectively.

Ahmed Hassan, who made 184 international appearances during a glittering career, scored twice for Egypt to get past Cameroon in the quarter-finals before his side overwhelmed Algeria 4–0 in the last four. Mohamed Nagy, also known as Gedo, struck the winner against Ghana in the final with five minutes remaining.

With Africa’s teams and players continuing to take a more pivotal role in the World Cup and in Europe’s domestic competitions, there remains plenty of room for Panini to develop its presence on the continent in the years ahead.

SOUTH AFRICA 2010

Fresh from the success of their Germany 2006 album, Panini’s South Africa 2010 was their biggest World Cup offering yet as an African nation hosted the tournament for the first time.

For the first instance in a Panini World Cup album, every nation received an identical double-page spread made up of 17 player stickers, a team group and a shiny foil badge, with no need for any of the qualifying nations – or their fans – to feel an inferiority complex. There would be no going back.

After taking tentative steps with update stickers for Germany 2006, Panini produced a set of 80 stickers, on sheets, as final squads were announced. These included England centre-backs Jamie Carragher and Ledley King, both of whom made the 23-man selection but not the 17 chosen by Panini.

Having won Euro 2008, Spain were among the favourites to win the World Cup. Reverting to type, however, they lost their opening game of the tournament, 1–0 to Switzerland. It seemed a long way back for Spain as no team had ever gone on to win the World Cup after losing their first game. But they achieved their first task of getting out of the group, chiefly thanks to the goals of David Villa, who rocked a short, spiky hair do in South Africa 2010.

France continued their trend of following up a World Cup Final appearance with a disastrous campaign next time around – this time doing even worse than in 2002. Unrest in the French camp was heightened when Nicolas Anelka – shaven-headed and goatee-bearded in South Africa 2010 – was sent home for expressing his feelings towards coach Raymond Domenech at half-time in the 2–0 defeat to Mexico. A number of team-mates (including captain Patrice Evra) then boycotted training ahead of

SOUTH AFRICA 2010 ALBUM FACTS

PAGES: 72 ALBUM PRICE: £1.50 NUMBER OF STICKERS: 640 PACKET COST: 50P FOR FIVE STICKERS

the final group match – another defeat, to hosts South Africa.

Holders Italy did no better as they also crashed out at the group stage, following up two draws with a 3–2 defeat to Slovakia. Robert Vittek – kitted out like the rest of the squad in a red-and-white tracksuit in South Africa 2010 – was the two-goal hero for the World Cup debutants.

Argentina’s group stage form contrasted starkly with France and Italy as they won all three games under coach Diego Maradona. Gonzalo Higuain scored a hat-trick against South Korea but Lionel Messi (minus the ‘Andres’ of his Germany 2006 sticker) entered the knockout phase still looking for his range.

Portugal recorded the biggest win of the tournament when they beat North Korea 7–0. Surprisingly, only one of them came from skipper Cristiano Ronaldo.

England limped through Group C in second place, earning them the dubious pleasure of facing Germany in the second round. After quickly going two goals behind, Matthew Upson pulled one back for England before Frank Lampard’s shot was adjudged to have not crossed the line, contrary to what TV replays showed viewers. Thomas Müller – omitted from the South Africa 2010 album having only made his full German debut in March 2010 – scored twice after the break to end any doubt.

Müller scored again in the quarter-final as Germany emphatically burst Argentina’s bubble in a 4–0 win.

Netherlands knocked out Brazil at the same stage thanks to two goals from Wesley Sneijder. Like his compatriots, he wore a fully zipped-up Oranje tracksuit top in South Africa 2010. Meanwhile, Villa was again the match-winner for