With less than a month for the European Championship to kick off in Poland and Ukraine, local football enthusiasts are gearing up for this highly anticipated international tournament by acquainting themselves with the 16 finalists through the latest Panini sticker album which has been capturing the imagination of thousands for over 40 years.
A passion for football and beyond which stood the test of time
As the football season is drawing closer with the UEFA Champions League up for grabs next Saturday between Chelsea and Bayern Munich, who will have home advantage in their pursuit of a fifth success in the world’s most coveted club competition, the attention is slowly shifting to the European Championship which is considered to be the biggest international tournament after the World Cup.
In Malta, even though the national team is among the minnows in international football and will never make it to the final stage of a major tournament, there is still a huge build-up for these biennial international events, especially when countries like Italy, England and Germany are among the finalists.
Part of this build-up is generated as soon as the Panini albums go on sale in April. These collections, which in Malta stretch back to the 1969/70 season with Calciatori Album, are hugely popular. Domenic Anastasi, a familiar name with thousands of local football enthusiasts who flock to his shop in Merchant’s Street Valletta especially in the weeks preceding big international events to swap stickers with fellow enthusiasts, revealed to The Malta Independent that sales so far are in the same level as Euro 2008.
Popularity largely unaffected by increase in cost over the years
A closer look at this year’s European Championships album reveals that it contains 539 stickers ranging from the usual faces of players from the participating teams which from 2016 will increase from 16 to 24, to the stadia and cities hosting the games and also a glance at the competition history which goes back to 1960. A rough estimate indicates that around 110 sticker packets are needed to complete the album which at 60c each add up to a hefty €66. Of course, the expense would be higher as towards the end duplicate stickers start to surface up, and hence the most interesting part comes into action which involves swapping the duplicates for the missing ones.
A few minutes in front of Mr Anastasi’s shop reveals an interesting sight, with keen enthusiasts with pen and paper in one hand and a pack of duplicate stickers in the other ready for swapping. Of significance is the fact that being a weekday no children were around but instead adults from all walks of life including pensioners and also an elderly woman in her sixties were observed deeply immersed in their search for missing stickers, eager to complete the album just as they used to be in their childhood.
However, as soon as they saw the camera, most of them disappeared. While some may feel ashamed to be publicly portrayed being involved in an activity which is perceived to be mostly associated with kids, others fear they might be spotted at the wrong place at the wrong time.
Older generations, now in the forties, who have been collecting albums since their childhood remark that this has become a rather expensive hobby nowadays, with the price of each packet having soared to about five times its value in the space of 25 years. For the 1986 World Cup album these were priced at five Malta cents each (11.65 euro cents) as compared to the current price of 60 euro cents. Nevertheless, judging from the few minutes spent outside Mr Anastasi’s shop their addiction seems to be greater than ever with the local agent satisfied with the level of sales so far.
Lengthy negotiations in securing exclusive rights at a hefty price
He explains that Panini is the biggest name in football stickers both production wise and also as far as their reputation is concerned. Besides the printing costs, the biggest chunk of their bill is to secure exclusive rights with all the respective national football associations including the Maltese FA, prior to the conclusion of the qualifiers, to be able to start working on the album as soon as the finalists are known which is usually around November. This may be even more complicated in cases when no agreement is reached as happened with the English FA, with the only remaining option being that of negotiating individual rights with the players. Sadly the official emblem will still be missing and players still look rather unrealistic as they have to be mounted on virtual shirts which cannot bear the official colours as well. Eventually, when the album goes for sale, the respective associations get a percentage of the profits.
One particular striking aspect is the fact that these collections seem to have stood the test of time and are somehow unchallenged by the advent of gaming consoles which are edging closer to provide a real-life experience of actually playing in these tournaments. This question also fascinates the top management at the Panini mother company in Modena in Italy. According to Mr Anastasi part of the reason may be that socialisation plays an important part in all this and this overcomes any form of technological advances. “Children are swapping stickers on their way to school and playing football in the evening. You cannot get these experiences on consoles, and thus physical interaction will always have the edge” stated Mr Anastasi.
From football to other genres of albums now available
Turning on the variety of collections which are available for collectors which include Tinkerbell and Mickey & Donald, Domenic Anastasi admits that if it were not for football these would not be financially viable to produce. The substantial income from the football collections is allowing the company to secure other rights such as Walt Disney, which provides the second biggest revenue stream and other collections dictated by circumstances like the Michael Jackson card collection in the United States following his death. Other niche markets are provided by teenage sensations like Justin Bieber, whose popularity is being pounced upon by producing entire albums dedicated to these teen idols.
In recent years the Panini Group also set its sights on the American market by acquiring the rights for the National Basketball Association (NBA), the American Football League (AFL) the Baseball League and the National Hockey League (NHL). Besides producing sticker albums they are also venturing into trading card games which have also been launched in parallel with the Euro 2012 collection.
In Malta it all started in 1969
Mr Anastasi has been the local agent for Panini, since the very beginning. “It was the 1969/70 season and riding on the enthusiasm of seeing my favourite team Fiorentina win the Serie A title the previous year for only the second time in their history, as a 17 year-old I came across these albums after my father, who used to run a business of a different sort, was made aware of them while in Italy. I immediately decided to venture into this new form of business and to try my luck.” The success registered was immediate and business flourished to the extent that he then decided to go for the next step which was the Mexico 1970 album, which for many football enthusiasts was probably the start of their lifelong love affair with the Panini collections.
Initially these albums consisted of cards which had to be affixed with some glue, until they were replaced with stickers which made it even more fashionable especially with children. As years rolled on and generations who came in contact with these collections grew older, these albums started to be rarer and acquired the status of collectors’ items. Domenic Anastasi boasts one of the most up to date databases, and claims he is able to provide missing stickers from albums dating back to the 1970s.
“Having been the local agent for so long, I possess a uniquely wide-ranging collection that makes it possible to provide any missing stickers from our archives. While in other countries agents dispose of their remaining stickers after some years, I can claim to have the entire collection in our archives. This factor is the reason behind my reputation abroad, as the majority of requests we received are actually from other countries” bragged Mr Anastasi.
From humble children’s albums to collectors’ items
In recent years, the advent of the internet and EBay in particular sparked a search frenzy among nostalgic collectors who saw a window of opportunity to acquire missing stickers from years gone by or even entire albums. Right now, the complete Mexico 1970 album is being sold for £2,000 in the United Kingdom. Prices go even higher for Calciatori collections such as the 1962/63 which is selling for €2,650 in Italy.
So, those in possession of such albums which for many years might have been locked up or stored in some hidden quarters of their garage might better start looking for them as they might make a fortune out of their childhood hobby.