Complete Guide to Panini World Cup Sticker Albums
A few times each decade, the world gathers in a specific location to crown a soccer champion at the FIFA World Cup. For collectors, this high-profile tournament takes on added importance because of the Panini World Cup sticker cards and albums.
Consistently produced by Panini since the 1970 World Cup, these sticker cards give the global audience something tangible to collect, no matter how their team plays. The low price (and worldwide availability) makes the Panini World Cup stickers and albums some of the most popular sports cards in the world.
Panini World Cup Sticker History
Panini World Cup stickers made their debut during World Cup 1970 in Mexico and the sets have gotten progressively larger over the years. The simple product features stadium, mascot, player, and team stickers that are intended to be applied to the corresponding album. There are also shiny foil or hologram cards that act as the closest thing to an insert found in the sets. The ultimate goal is to completely fill every blank spot in the album with the correct sticker, but it is no small task.
While newer World Cup sticker singles are relatively easy to find, the older stickers can be tougher to track down, especially since many ended up in partially-finished albums. Things are further complicated by releases like 1990 Panini World Cup Story, which provided a look back at the previous tournaments and added new stickers to the marketplace.
Panini also started releasing prelude products for the World Cup, like Panini Road to 2018 FIFA World Cup. The product covers the qualification process, so there are more teams and a completely different logo, which makes it easier to distinguish them from the main release.
Panini World Cup Sticker Albums
The albums from each World Cup have a unique and colorful look and are popular collectibles themselves. They can be found with complete sticker sets, partial sets and completely empty. Because they are sold worldwide, there are multiple language versions based on the country where the album was originally sold.
Panini is not the only company to produce World Cup sticker sets, but they are the most popular. Although all the participating teams are covered in the World Cup sets, in recent editions, collectors may have noticed that the cards for England are not like the rest. All logos and emblems for the English players were airbrushed, producing a more generic look. This is because the licensing was held by Merlin's in 1998, 2002 and 2006, and then by Topps. However, that is no longer the case the for the World Cup 2018 edition, as Panini can use the official England logos.
2022 Panini World Cup Sticker Cards
Panini FIFA World Cup Album Visual Guide
1970 Panini World Cup Album - Mexico
- Champion: Brazil
- 52 pages, 271 sticker cards
1974 Panini World Cup Album - Germany
- Champion: West Germany
- 48 pages, 400 sticker cards
1978 Panini World Cup Album - Argentina
- Champion: Argentina
- 48 pages, 400 sticker cards
1982 Panini World Cup Album - Spain
- Champion: Italy
- 48 pages, 427 sticker cards
1986 Panini World Cup Album - Mexico
- Champion: Argentina
- 48 pages, 427 sticker cards
1990 Panini World Cup Album - Italy
- Champion: West Germany
- 48 pages, 448 sticker cards
1994 Panini World Cup Album - USA
- Champion: Brazil
- 48 pages, 444 sticker cards
1998 Panini World Cup Album - France
- Champion: France
- 64 pages, 560 sticker cards
2002 Panini World Cup Album - Korea/Japan
- Champion: Brazil
- 64 pages, 576 sticker cards
2006 Panini World Cup Album - Germany
- Champion: Italy
- 64 pages, 596 sticker cards
2010 Panini World Cup Album - South Africa
- Champion: Spain
- 72 pages, 640 sticker cards
2014 Panini World Cup Album - Brazil
- Champion: Germany
- 80 pages, 640 sticker cards
2018 Panini World Cup Album - Brazil
- Champion: France
- 80 pages, 682 sticker cards
2022 Panini World Cup Album - Qatar
- Champion: TBD
- 80 pages, 670 sticker cards
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