World Cup sticker frenzy: Panini packs sell out as fans race to fill 980
spots in collectible albums
[June 27, 2026]
By DAVE SKRETTA
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — 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.
The idea was to give them to friends with kids. But what happened next
surprised him.
“When I walked in with this box of cards,” Martin recalled, “hundreds of
people of all creeds and cultures said something: ‘Where did you get
those? How can I get some?’ Those Panini stickers are just that iconic
collectible that goes beyond sports collectors.”
The stickers depicting players and teams in the World Cup have 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.
This year's book is the largest ever, partly due to an enlarged 48-team
tournament, with 980 distinct stickers. They've become such a hot
commodity that many stores are sold out, and backorders may not ship
until the tournament has crowned a champion.
“We've sold an unbelievable amount of the stickers,” said Martin, one of
the owners of Dave and Adam's Card World, which has shops in New York
and Europe.
“We thought the order we placed months ago would be enough to tide us
over,” Martin said. “We've had to reorder twice.”
The building buzz for a World Cup tradition
Panini had produced more than 2 billion packs — each containing seven
stickers — by the start of the tournament, said Jason Howarth, the
senior vice president of marketing and athlete relations for Panini
America. That's quite a feat considering the field wasn't set until
April 1.
Most stickers are not valuable by themselves, though older ones — such
as the debuts of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo — can fetch hundreds
of dollars. The value comes in trying to fill the World Cup album.
“In European and South American culture, completing the sticker album is
something almost every child does at some point,” said Matt Blazey, from
Milton Keynes, England, whose YouTube channel featuring cards and
collectibles has more than 62,000 subscribers.
“Most rediscover it in adulthood,” Blazey said, “when 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.”
Indeed, part of the beauty of the Panini stickers is in their
accessibility. Each pack only costs about $2 (1.50 euros).
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 especially
sought-after, and collectors have put huge bounties on ultra-rare,
black-bordered, 1-of-1s — as in, one in the world — depicting Messi,
Ronaldo, Lamine Yamal and other big stars.
Some industry experts believe the black Messi sticker alone could
command $200,000 at auction.
“We're tracking and following through social media who pulls the black
1-of-1s,” Howarth said. “Neymar, Leo, Ronaldo — this is probably their
last World Cup. What do those stickers sell for? That's going to be a
new high mark for the category.”
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Panini World Cup stickers are displayed in the historic center in
Mexico City, Tuesday, June 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte)
 The challenge of completing the
album is real
Sammi Kaewsawang had never participated in the World Cup album
experience until this year, when the content creator from Long
Beach, California, decided to see how long it would take to
physically peel and stick all 980 examples into the album.
By the time Kaewsawang finished with Panama, the
last of his 48 teams, he'd been at it for about 7 hours, 47 minutes.
“Now I'm on my second one, helping my fiance's nephew complete his,”
Kaewsawang said. “What made the experience so memorable was the
people I met along the way. Trading stickers brought me together
with fans of all ages.”
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.
Many shops help 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.
“I've made genuine new friends though this hobby,” Kaewsawang said,
“and that means more than completing the collection itself.”
The end of the Panini stickers is near, or is it?
Even though Panini stickers have never been hotter — a partnership
with Coca-Cola means stickers can be found under labels of certain
bottles — the company is facing the end of an era after the 2030
tournament in Morocco, Portugal and Spain.
The Fanatics brand Topps will take over the rights to produce World
Cup cards, stickers and other FIFA collectibles, and it's unclear
whether the U.S.-based company will produce a similar product as its
Italian rival.
“It is a real bittersweet moment,” Blazey said. “From my side, and
for probably 90% of collectors at the moment — more so outside the
U.S., where Panini is a household name — it's a very sad moment for
this to be the end. So many people grew up collecting them, and it's
synonymous with their childhood, so the loss of the license is very
much seen as sacrilege.”
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.
It may not be the end of an era so much as a reboot.
“We're very privileged to be a significant partner with both Panini
and Fanatics. We try not to pick sides,” Martin said. “I think
Fanatics will do an amazing job with World Cup products, but I'm not
sure they'll be able to capture the cultural impact.”
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