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Adam Martin remembers taking boxes of Panini stickers and their accompanying World Cup albums to a Formula 1 race in May, shortly after his collectibles shop had received a shipment and long before the tournament was to begin.<\/p>\n
The idea was to give them to friends with kids. But what happened next surprised him.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I walked in with this box of cards,\u201d Martin recalled, \u201chundreds of people of all creeds and cultures said something: \u2018Where did you get those? How can I get some?\u2019 Those Panini stickers are just that iconic collectible that goes beyond sports collectors.\u201d<\/p>\n
The stickers depicting\u00a0players and teams in the World Cup\u00a0have been around since 1970, when four Italian brothers paid $1,000 to procure the rights to produce the images. More than 50 years later, the stickers are available in packs all over the world, and fans young and old not only purchase them but also swap among themselves, helping each other fill their keepsake albums.<\/p>\n
This year\u2019s book is the largest ever, partly due to an enlarged 48-team tournament, with\u00a0980 distinct stickers. They\u2019ve become such a hot commodity that many stores are sold out, and backorders may not ship until the tournament has crowned a champion.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve sold an unbelievable amount of the stickers,\u201d said Martin, one of the owners of Dave and Adam\u2019s Card World, which has shops in New York and Europe.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe thought the order we placed months ago would be enough to tide us over,\u201d Martin said. \u201cWe\u2019ve had to reorder twice.\u201d<\/p>\n
Panini had produced more than 2 billion packs \u2014 each containing seven stickers \u2014 by the start of the tournament, said Jason Howarth, the senior vice president of marketing and athlete relations for Panini America. That\u2019s quite a feat considering the field wasn\u2019t set until April 1.<\/p>\n
Most stickers are not valuable by themselves, though older ones \u2014 such as the debuts of\u00a0Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo\u00a0\u2014 can fetch hundreds of dollars. The value comes in trying to fill the World Cup album.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn European and South American culture, completing the sticker album is something almost every child does at some point,\u201d said Matt Blazey, from Milton Keynes, England, whose\u00a0YouTube channel featuring cards and collectibles\u00a0has more than 62,000 subscribers.<\/p>\n
\u201cMost rediscover it in adulthood,\u201d Blazey said, \u201cwhen they realize they have adult money, which brings back all of those memories of bringing stickers into school, showing them off to your mates and swapping them to complete the album.\u201d<\/p>\n
Indeed, part of the beauty of the Panini stickers is in their accessibility. Each pack only costs about $2 (1.50 euros).<\/p>\n
Beginning with the last World Cup in Qatar, though, Panini also began producing variations with special borders that are much more scarce. Suddenly, stickers with red, purple or orange edges became\u00a0especially sought-after,\u00a0and collectors have put huge bounties on ultra-rare, black-bordered, 1-of-1s \u2014 as in, one in the world \u2014 depicting Messi, Ronaldo, Lamine Yamal and other big stars.<\/p>\n
Some industry experts believe the black Messi sticker alone could command $200,000 at auction.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re tracking and following through social media who pulls the black 1-of-1s,\u201d Howarth said. \u201cNeymar, Leo, Ronaldo \u2014 this is probably their last World Cup. What do those stickers sell for? That\u2019s going to be a new high mark for the category.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sammi Kaewsawang had never participated in the World Cup album experience until this year, when the content creator\u00a0from Long Beach, California, decided to see how long it would take to physically peel and stick all 980 examples into the album.<\/p>\n
By the time Kaewsawang finished with Panama, the last of his 48 teams, he\u2019d been at it for about 7 hours, 47 minutes.<\/p>\n
\u201cNow I\u2019m on my second one, helping my fiance\u2019s nephew complete his,\u201d Kaewsawang said. \u201cWhat made the experience so memorable was the people I met along the way. Trading stickers brought me together with fans of all ages.\u201d<\/p>\n
That is undoubtedly part of the appeal: Even though Panini has a digital collection available, the sense of community that comes from swapping your doubles for a player you might need brings with it a quaint sense of nostalgia, not unlike the way American kids have collected and traded baseball cards for generations.<\/p>\n
Many shops\u00a0help by scheduling swap meets. Panini itself has a truck at Rockefeller Center in New York, where thousands have shown up in the evenings to trade. Message boards allow fans to connect anywhere in the world, and about 8,000 collectors recently showed up at a stadium in Santiago, Chile, to swap.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve made genuine new friends though this hobby,\u201d Kaewsawang said, \u201cand that means more than completing the collection itself.\u201d<\/p>\n
Even though Panini stickers have never been hotter \u2014 a partnership with Coca-Cola means stickers can be found under labels of certain bottles \u2014 the company is facing the end of an era after the 2030 tournament in Morocco, Portugal and Spain.<\/p>\n
The\u00a0Fanatics brand Topps will take over\u00a0the rights to produce World Cup cards, stickers and other FIFA collectibles, and it\u2019s unclear whether the U.S.-based company will produce a similar product as its Italian rival.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is a real bittersweet moment,\u201d Blazey said. \u201cFrom my side, and for probably 90% of collectors at the moment \u2014 more so outside the U.S., where Panini is a household name \u2014 it\u2019s a very sad moment for this to be the end. So many people grew up collecting them, and it\u2019s synonymous with their childhood, so the loss of the license is very much seen as sacrilege.\u201d<\/p>\n
Yet there is also hope among collectors that Fanatics, which also recently took over the license for the Premier League, can take some of its forward-thinking ideas from sportscards and apply them to a sticker product for the 2034 World Cup.<\/p>\n
It may not be the end of an era so much as a reboot.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re very privileged to be a significant partner with both Panini and Fanatics. We try not to pick sides,\u201d Martin said. \u201cI think Fanatics will do an amazing job with World Cup products, but I\u2019m not sure they\u2019ll be able to capture the cultural impact.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n