A sticky World Cup tradition: Tracking down Panini football stickers
To complete Panini’s 2026 Fifa World Cup album, which commemorates the biggest edition yet of the global tournament, collectors must find a total of 980 stickers.
There is a ritual that I have repeated every four years since 1998: collecting Panini Fifa World Cup stickers. It’s a curious hobby; though I’m not a football fanatic, I am an enthusiast for printed products and so there is something appealing to me about the Italian company’s iconic and enduring sticker collection. The album is not just a book, it’s a shared social experience.
Released to commemorate every Fifa World Cup since 1970, the Panini collection includes stickers for every player and team participating in the global competition as well as designs featuring other aspects relating to the tournament, such as team badges and venues. The 2026 World Cup’s album is bigger than ever, with 48 teams and 980 stickers to complete the booklet. Stickers are sold in blind packs, so you never know what’s inside until you open one. Panini’s head of marketing for sport, Katie Gritt, says that the company prints billions of stickers to meet global demand and distributes them to more than 150 countries.
Some stickers are easier to find than others, a scarcity that has fueled rumours that Panini limits production for selected players. But Gritt insists that all stickers in the collection are “printed in equal quantities”. “For example, [during the 1990 Fifa World Cup], Paul Gascoigne was the player that everyone wanted. So naturally it was felt that his circulation was lower than others,” she says. The most-wanted collectables sell for high sums at auction, such as when a 1979 Maradona sticker went for €470,000 in 2021.
Founded in 1961 by brothers Benito and Giuseppe Panini in Moderna, Italy, the Panini Group has many products under its umbrella. But it’s safe to assume that the World Cup stickers are its most prized creations. The company does not disclose sales figures for the albums but the football tournament is no doubt a very profitable time for the collectables group. For the 2026 World Cup, the brand has partnered with various major labels, including Coca-Cola and Lynx, and has even set up a pop-up shop in London’s Selfridges. This is all in addition to the release of the stickers and albums themselves, which are already available for sale.
Today, if you visit the Panini website, you will find a hardcover album and all sorts of extra gadgets. But, for me, nothing beats the original soft-cover version. I have begun collecting the stickers and though it might be challenging, I hope to find all 980. At the time of writing, I’m struggling to find a sticker for Brazil’s goalie, Alisson Becker. Anyone fancy a swap?
