Panini sticker collectors face biggest World Cup challenge yet

More than 1,000 packets may be required to ​acquire every World Cup 2026 player in the album, meaning an outlay in the region of €1,250

PANINI GOLD: Albums of collectible cards featuring players for the upcoming 2026 FIFA World Cup hosted at the Panini Group factory in Modena, northern Italy. The Panini Group holds the exclusive rights for the official collectible cards and stickers for the tournament. Pic: Marco Bertorello/AFP/Getty Images.

For generations of soccer fans, no World Cup would be complete without the thrill of opening a packet of Panini stickers and discovering Zico, Franz Beckenbauer, Diego ​Maradona or Lionel Messi staring back.

Since Italian company Panini's first sticker collection at ‌the 1970 World Cup in Mexico, trying, and usually failing, to complete the set has been an obsession for young fans around the globe with playground swapping mandatory.