One of the world's biggest football sticker collections to be exhibited in Cork this week

Gianni Bellini is considered to be the world's leading collector of football cards and stickers. He loaned them for the exhibition and he will be in Cork for the opening

A unique exhibition of football stickers — the craze that swept the world during the glory days of Ireland’s involvement in the World Cup — is set to kick off a wave of nostalgia and stir great memories this weekend.

A remarkable collection of trading cards featuring the Irish and Italian playing legends of Italia 90 and beyond — from Bonner and Baggio, to Keane and Schillaci — will go on display in Cork from Sunday as part of the first exhibition of its kind in Ireland.

Gianni Bellini, one of the world’s biggest collectors of football stickers, has loaned his collection to the Italian Institute of Culture (IIC) in Dublin for the Irish tour, which opens to the public in St Peter’s centre on North Main St on Sunday.

The ‘Chasing the Ball’ exhibition features Gianni’s incredible display of football stickers, albums, cards and materials focusing on the Irish and Italian football teams from Italia 1990, USA 1994, and South Korea/Japan 2002.

The exhibition is open to the public in St Peter's centre on North Main Street on Sunday.

The stickers, some of which are very rare and valuable, were bought in Ireland, Italy, and around the world during the World Cup events and are kept in the archive of the Museo della Figurina — a museum of contemporary art and visual culture in Modena, Italy.

IIC director, Marco Gioacchini, said they hope the exhibition connects the Italian and Irish passion for football.

“As the Football World Cup 2022 is approaching, we thought it would be a great opportunity to celebrate Irish-Italian friendship by a common exhibition featuring both countries at the World Cup,” he said.

“We focused on Ireland reaching the final leg as well as when the two teams played together.

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“Italia 90 is especially full of souvenirs for both countries so the Italian Institute of Culture asked the Museo della Figurina to create a new exhibition focusing on that period of time and those national teams.

“It is a brand-new exhibition specially conceived for Ireland and entirely funded by us.” 

Curators at the Museo della Figurina studied, selected and scanned the stickers and the albums to be shown in the Irish exhibition.

It features a display of hundreds of trading cards showing some of Ireland and Italy’s football heroes including Pat Bonner, Stephen Staunton, Robbie Keane, Ray Houghton, Paolo Maldini, Roberto Donadoni, Gianluigi Buffon, and Salvatore Schillaci, and the coaches, Jack Charlton and Giovanni Trapattoni.

There are specific sections for Roy Keane, Roberto Baggio, Liam Brady, and Marco Tardelli.

It also features a two-minute cut-out animation movie dedicated to Trapattoni, and 18 original drawings of Collettivo FX, an Italian street art movement, dedicated to the goals scored by Ireland during the three World Cups — including Ray Houghton’s famous goal against Italy in Giants Stadium in 1994.

The event is supported by the Embassy of Italy to Ireland, and the Ambassador of Italy, Ruggero Corrias, will attend the launch on Sunday with the Lord Mayor of Cork, Deirdre Forde.

The exhibition is free of charge and will open at St Peter’s at 4pm on Sunday, running Monday to Saturday, 10am to 5pm until December 7, before moving to Dublin Castle’s Printworks Building from January 5.