Panini has been making World Cup albums since Mexico 1970.
One of the classics of every World Cup, for 52 years, is the appearance of the sticker album that anticipates the dispute of the most important football tournament on the planet. It is a collection that presents all the figures of the competition in a format designed for children but which also captures many adults.
In case of Qatar World Cup 2022is the fourteenth edition of the album whose debut took place in Mexico in 1970, when the first agreement between the Italian company Panini and International Football Association (FIFA).
When the first album came out, Sandwiches it had collectible cardboard, but without the traditional self-adhesive stickers, which arrived only in the 1971-72 season of the Italian championship.
The company was founded in 1961 and in the same year they launched the first Sticker album. However, the brothers Giuseppe, Benito, Franco and Umberto Sandwiches they started their business by opening a newsstand in 1945 and in 1954 they founded a newspaper distribution company in Modena.
Qatar World Cup 2022: Panini began selling its World Cup albums in 1970.
Over time, and given the strong demand for sports newspapers, Giuseppe and Benito decided to found the brothers’ Newspaper Distribution Agency. Sandwiches, forerunner of today’s multinational. Two years after the launch, Franco and Umberto joined, the latter who created the machine that inserted the statuettes into the envelopes.
The first album which was put up for sale was one on the Italian football league and had as its cover the Swedish Milan Nils Liedholm. The player was part of the historical trident known as “Gre-No-Li”, along with Gunnar Gren and Gunnar Nordahl.
According to data published by Sandwiches, Calcitori Italiano’s first album collection grossed over $ 3 million, rising to $ 15 million the following year and nearly $ 30 the next. Furthermore, the value of the envelopes was 10 Italian lire, equal to 0.5 euro cents.
Qatar World Cup 2022: Panini has already confirmed the release date of the album.
After being in front of the World Cup album for more than 18 years, the brothers Sandwiches decided to sell the company for over $ 60 million to the Maxwell Group. However, the numbers were never what they expected and in 1992 Bain Gallo Cuneo bought the company.
Finally, on 8 October 1999, the company returned to the Italians, as it was acquired by Fineldo Spa, the financial company of Vittorio Merloni.
According to its official website, currently Sandwiches It has agreements with Digital Soccer, the World Foot Center in France and has transferred its adhesive paper business to Avery Dannison, which they call “one of the world leaders in the industry”.
The introduction of self-adhesive stickers
After releasing the album Mexico World Cup 1970, Sandwiches had a radical change in the company that would mark a before and after in the business Sticker album.
In the 1971-72 season of the Calcitori Italiano, the self-adhesive stickers which are being sold today. Originally, the figurines were made of thin cardboard and were glued to the album by collectors.
The albums of the Panini world
Despite the partnership between the Italian company and FIFA started facing the Mexico World Cup 1970it was only after the 1971-72 season that Calciatori Italiano began to launch album with self-adhesive stickershence the first of World Cups in having it was to Germany 1974.
To follow, all the championships in which Sandwiches sold on World Cup Register:
- Mexico 1970
- Germany 1974
- Argentina 1878
- Spain 1982
- Mexico 1986
- Italy 1994
- United States 1994
- French 1998
- Korea-Japan 2022
- Germany 2006
- South Africa 2010
- Brazil 2014
- Russia 2018
- Qatar 2022
Source: Clarin
