-Panini Football 1979 league map
Here on this post you could read a little story about
Panini stickers in British football. British, because some of those albums
also covered Scotland league. But I will mostly talk about stickers in England
football. I will also say few words about stickers before Panini and today's
albums produced by Topps.
First I will say some words about today's „Topps“ albums dedecated
to England's Premier League. If you ask any collector from England all of them will
say you one word: disappointment. If we look for example in last edition of
album (2016/17) it looks like they produced an album for as little cost as
possible. Last season was 25 years of Premier League. It was great opportunity
to make something about history of Premier League. But Topps made only 4 pages
about most appearances and top scorers. They also put sticker of Sadio Mane as
a fastes hattrick scorer in PL history. He did it while he was in Southampton
but they put his sticker in Liverpool jersey. They should have done more for 25
years. Every team in album is presented with club logo, two team stickers, one
shiny sticker for a star player and only 12 player stickers for each team. It
is big disappointment if we look at today's club squads. So you miss lot of
famous players in the album.
Words from one collector from England: „Topps have done
nothing to appeal to me as a collector and a football fan. Having collected
Panini's French Ligue, Italian Calcio, and Spanish La Liga football albums,
they have done so much more just by the look of the album, and also the level
of detail.“
-Topps Merlin's Premier League 2016/17 album cover
-Example of Chelsea from 2016/17 Topps album
Before it was different...
When we
start talking about stickers in England football first we have to start talking
about FKS publisher. Albums were named „The
Wonderful World of Soccer Stars“ or later „Soccer Stars“. FKS had success
because their album was leader at that time in England. FKS was the UK arm of a Spanish company called Fher. Let's say local publisher
and it was hard for Panini to take their place. FKS also produced WC albums. FKS
produced not stickers but pictures (some pople call them „stamps“) and you had
to use your own glue. But you glue only top of that stamp because biography of
the player is written on the other side.
-Some covers of FKS albums
-Example of FKS sticker "stamp"
Panini first appeared in England football in season 1971/72. But they
only printed stickers for „Top Sellers“. They did that until 1977/78. It was
just matter of time when Panini will become first company for stickers in
England football.
-Example of Panini "Top Sellers"
First Panini album in England was for 1970 World Cup and if
we compare Panini and FKS World cup albums it is easy to see that Panini
produced much better albums. FKS had only one page for each country while
Panini had two. Panini also had introduction with stadium and town stickers. Panini
albums were in much better quality, they were more colorful. FKS albums looks
very poor. Those are several main reasons why Panini overtooked FKS in England
football.
Panini also produced
self-adhesive stickers rather than the picture stamps of FKS, which needed
gluing in. FKS did then produce self-adhesive stickers the following season but
such was the success of Panini's Football 78 that they were now the 'go-to'
album.
Panini also managed to
secure deals with the English and Scottish Football Leagues and Professional
Footballers' Association's...which gave them access to all the latest kit
branding whereas most rival albums used images from the previous season around
that time.
They also gave the
album away free with the most popular UK football magazine at the time - Shoot!
- and their distribution was second to none. Finally, they also introduced the
shiny/foil club badges which became legendary when it came to doing swaps
because of their aesthetic appeal.
First Panini album dedicated to England first league (also Scotland) was in
1977/78 season (Panini Football 78). It came out in January 1978. Since then Panini was main publisher in England
football till 1992/93. Almost all of those albums also had included Scotland First Division. In album „Football 1980“ they also
produced player stickers for 2nd division of England football.
Panini almost never
disappoint with their albums so it was the same with this albums. Just look at
the design of the pages where you have history of the club, info about every
player...
Which is the best
Panini UK albums? Football 78 had quite a few flaws but from Football 79
through the 1980s the albums were near to perfection because all the right
players were featured in all the right kits. For me the best albums are Football
79 because of the silk badges they used as a one-off experiment and Football 83
because it was the only UK Panini album which used full-length shots, thus
getting in the whole kits as well. (Greg Lansdowne)
UK Football league album covers:
-Panini UK Football packets
England First Division winners trough Panini Football albums:
1977/78: Nottingham Forest
1978/79: Liverpool
1979/80: Liverpool
1980/81: Aston Villa
1981/82: Liverpool
1982/83: Liverpool
1983/84: Liverpool
1984/85: Everton
1985/86: Liverpool
1986/87: Everton
1987/88: Liverpool
1988/89: Arsenal
1989/90: Liverpool
1990/91: Arsenal
1991/92: Leeds United
1992/93: Manchester United
Why did Panini stop making UK domestic albums? The Premier League didn't have an official album for its first season in 1992-93 (Panini Football 93 wasn't official album). When they looked for a company to produce one for 1993-94 they approached Merlin because someone high up at the Premier League/Football Association (David Dein) was friends with one of the major shareholders at Merlin (Patricia Kluge). Merlin convinced the Premier League that they were up to the task and they proved to be up to it. 25 years later Merlin (now owned by Topps) are still doing the Premier League sticker album although the Match Attax cards are far more popular these days.
These are not the only albums that Panini produced in UK. In 1990 Panini published album dedecated to the legendary players of England football. Album was named "The All-Time Greats 1920-1990". There were albums named "Super Players". In albums were presented players from England Premier League clubs. They also published several albums dedecated to second division of England football (Championship). Album in 1996 dedecated to England national team...
When we are talking about Scotland league albums Panini was official publisher in 1991/92 and from 1994/95 to 2011/12.
- Panini The All-Time Greats 1920-1990
- Panini Super Players 1996 and 1998
Six albums dedacated to second division of England football:
I will end this with words from one collector from England: "I really hope that one day Topps finally lose the license
for the PL and their albums. Panini do a far greater job and they seriously
need to do all they can to regain the licence for the PL. I and many others
would love this, and looking back at the English Football League albums from
1978 to the early 1990's where not only were the albums of the teams, but the
level of detail was fantastic in stadiums, matchday programmes, players,
history, stats about each player, pretty much like what Panini Calciatori are
doing today. Now as an avid collector of the PL album (and I will continue
collecting this), I am sure that Panini would love to grace the PL sticker
albums and show off what they have been doing so well for decades. Maybe I am
just being nostalgic having collected stickers for 40 years, but maybe one day
I will enjoy an album like I used to from years gone by."
LITTLE UPDATE (FEBRUARY 2021): In 2019 not only stickers but all Premier League fans were pleased with the news that Panini is coming back to English Premier League. Since the quality of the Topps albums were going down it was only a matter of time when they will came back. This is Panini's second era of stickers and albums. First one started in late 70s and finished in early 90s. Those albums were dedicated to English and Scottish leagues. Second Panini era in British football will only have English Premier League clubs. Panini's Football 2020 (season 2019/20) is the first official Panini's Premier League album. If we compare these new albums to Topps ones- the difference is great. Not only about quality of the album and stickers but also about design, promotion of the collection. We have much more stickers for each club etc. This brought back many collectors who didn't collected stickers for many years or collected Panini league albums in their first era. All in all a great come back from Panini.
Sources of some pictures: cards.littleoak.com.au/index.html
cartophilic-info-exch.blogspot.hr
Thanks for helping me with text:
Greg Lansdowne (autor of the book: Stuck on you), my friends Chris and Jamie.
Thanks for helping me with text:
Greg Lansdowne (autor of the book: Stuck on you), my friends Chris and Jamie.
I still own football 89, and i'm an avid collector of Italian "calciatori".
ReplyDeleteIn the years, as I can see from the photos posted, the look of the stickers is usually shared between the various national collection (or shifted a couple years).
As an example, 1981/82 was taken from calciatori 1977-78.
Great post!
Yes that's true but it is from Panini. They copied from them selfs. Panini already published 1000 of albums so it is hard always to find a new look of stickers or albums. I know there were also "look-like" albums for France league. Thank you. I always try to do my best.
DeleteFollow me on facebook for lot of other great stickers. And if you own Panini albums from Swiss or Greece (or maybe some other exotic conutry) please contact me. Thank you
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