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This year, the new 16th European football championship awaits us. Therefore, I prepared a new story about Panini sticker albums, which will be dedicated to EURO sticker albums. We will start with a short history on UEFA EURO tournaments.
Short history...
Unlike the World Cup (first one was held in 1930), the first European competition had to wait until 1960. The idea of a European competition was presented by Henri Delaunay, a member of a France football federation, in 1927. Henri did not live to see the competition- he died 5 years before the first European tournament, but still, the trophy that was awarded to the European champion was named to his honor. In the first five tournaments, four teams competed in the final competition. The tournament was expanded in 1980 to eight teams, and later, the format was expanded to 16 and then to the 24 participating countries.
The first EURO torunament was won by Soviet Union, beating Yugoslavia in the final, another country that doesn't exist anymore. Soviet Union won 2-1. The championship was won three times by Germany and Spain. Throughout history, we had also seen two unexpected winners: Denmark in 1992 and Greece in 2004.
Panini's first album for EURO was published in 1980. We'd like to remind that the Italian company released its first album in 1961 for Italian Serie A in 1961/62 season and that's why they didn't make the album for first EURO. The question arises, though – why did Panini wait 20 years to release first album, or 10 if we count from the first album released for the World Cup in Mexico 1970? The answer in quite simple. It didn't make sense to make an album with only four national teams.
In 1980, the format of the competition changed- eight teams were competing in two groups. The Panini released the first EURO album. I am not familiar with the albums of some other publishers from 1960 to 1976, so I cannot write more about them, but I do not believe there were any, just because it made no sense to release the album for only four teams.
The first Panini EURO album has 262 stickers in total.
How does it look? The first section, introduction, contains the map of Europe with the countries that competed in the final tournament. Nine stickers are needed to complete the map. This is followed by a brief history of previous competitions, presented with two stickers: the team picture of the winning team and their best player.
Then we have stickers of UEFA president, logo of the competition, mascot and the map of Italy, host nation. The championship was held in four cities, which are represented in the album with one sticker of their lanndmark and the stadium where the matches were played.
Next, the national teams. Each of eight countries are represented with 23 stickers. Emblem, two team stickers, manager and, of course, players. The design of these pages is similar to the most albums for major tournaments. Next to emblem is a list of matches of group stage with date and place of each match, where you can also write the results of the matches. Below each player are the date and place of birth, the current club and number of matches for national team (of course, actual up to few months prior to the tournament). At the end of album are stronger European teams that failed to qualify for the championship. Those nations are: East Germany, Ireland, France, Switzerland, Yugoslavia, Hungary, Northern Ireland, Austria, Poland, Portugal, Scotland, Soviet Union, Sweden and Wales. They are represented with federation emblem, team sticker and three best players.
The price of a album in great condition can be even 500 €, while those less-preserved ones can cost for 200 € or more. The album is special because emblems are very expensive with a minimun price of 50 €. If you search ebay, you might come across the emblem of Italy, which cost a hefty 220 €, at the time of writing this text.
Panini's second album dedicated to the European championship. EURO 1984 was held in France, whose national team won the competition in the end.
The opening part of the album consist of a mascot sticker, emblem of the champioship and six stickers representing the team images of previous winners.
Each of the host cities has its own sticker, and the stadium located in that city. After that we also have the participating countries - the first one is, of course, the host nation- France. Each of these countries have emblem sticker, four stickers that make a big team photo, manager and, of coruse, most of them are players- 25 for each national team. Team photo, which is made by gluing the four stickers, is always a problem for collectors because it's very difficult to find the right stickers to make sure that all four stickers fit perfectly.
As in the last album, in this one we also have teams that did not make it to the finals: Czechoslovakia, England, Italy, Netherlands, Austria, Poland, Scotland, USSR and Sweden. Each of these national teams have three stickers - emblem and two team stickers. A total of 258 stickers are required to complete the album.
Like the previous sticker album, this one also starts with mascot stickers and a competition logo.
After that we have stickers dedicated to the past winners, which was a common theme in Panini EURO albums. Not many countries participate in the competition so Panini used this theme to complete their albums. This is followed with a two stickers which creates map of West Germany with the host cities that are presented in the same way as in the first two albums: city view sticker and a stadium.
The following section is mascot Bernie. A total of eight individual stickers that show Bernie in various football positions. Next are the national teams - the main part of album - 27 stickers presents each of the qualified national team.
Again, four stickers form the team picture, and after that, we have mascot in each country's jersey and emblem. The rest are coach and the players. At the end of album we have pages of very interesting topic - instead of unqualified countries, this time we have referees, seven in total, who enforced the rules in the championship. This was the first, but is also the last time to see their stickers in the Panini EURO or WC albums.
The 1988 collection counts 267 stickers. The 1988 album has one big mistake. One sticker has a mispelled player name, because wrong picture is placed next to the name. It is about winning team player - it's Sjaak Troost. Instead of Troost's face, this image shows to him very similar Michel van de Korput. As a result, Panini has released a new sticker with the real Sjaak image for Dutch market. This update, or rather the sticker they corrected the error is very rare because it is only released in Netherlands and costs around 100 euros.
To my knowledge this is the first so-called update or extra sticker. 90% of
collectors don't even know it exists, while very few collectors own it. About
0,1%. You see, even Panini can make a mistake. Neither the first nor the only
of this kind - there will be more.
Nothing has changed in the design since previous albums. Panini's EURO 1992
album begins with a championship logo sticker.
Then we have two stickers of the mascot, and a map of Sweden, where the
championship was held, that shows host cities. The championship was played in a
total of four cities, and each of them is, as usually, presented with two
stickers: city view and stadium.
Next are the participating national teams which are the main part of the album. That part starts with host nation Sweden. Each country that played this tournament starts with the two stickers that form a single team image. Then we have a mascot in colors of each state and a federation emblem. The rest are the manager and 20 players - 25 stickers in total for each participating nation. This album is quite different from other Panini EURO albums for some historic reasons.
At that time in Europe, communism came to the end and there was a war in some Eastern Europe countries. Although Yugoslavia and Soviet Union qualified for the tournament, there was a possibility of their disqualification precisely because of the breakup and the war. That is why Panini, along with the qualified countries, also printed two "additional countries". These are Denmark and Italy, the national teams that finished behind them in qualifying groups. Both countries have 20 stickers instead of 25 as others.
Yugoslavia was ultimately banned, while Soviet Union competed as CIS
(Commonwealth of Independent States). The insertion of additional countries
into the album paid a lot to Panini since Denmark surprisingly won the title.
Like they "knew". The album would not have the same value without
champion Denmark. For Italy we can say that they had to be in the album because
Panini, as we know, is from Italy. Yugoslavia (without Slovenia and Croatia)
was dropped from the championship at the and of May, and the album was released
sooner.
At the end of album, we have eight more stickers of the Bernie mascot. 261
stickers in total. This is the last Panini EURO album with manager/coach
sticker.
Here we
also have same mistake as in previous album. This time with Yugoslavian
national team. One the sticker on which writes Slaviša Jokanović is picture of
Gordan Petrić. This time, Panini, didn't release a new one (update sticker).
The next European championship was held in football home country- England. This is the first European championship where 16 nations participated. First big tournament for my homeland Croatia.
The album starts with stickers showing history of previous tournaments. For each winner we have a team sticker and their best player. This is followed by the host cities and their stadiums, which means one sticker for each city and stadium where matches were played. Next are participating nations that starts with hosts- England. A total of 20 stickers for each of them- 18 players, federation emblem and team sticker.
The album, which has a total of 354 stickers, hasn't got special features compared to previous albums.
EURO 2000
The championship held in 2000 is special because it's the first to be played in two countries. The Netherlands and Belgium together hosted this tournament in the beginning of the new millenium. The album, with 358 stickers, begins with the official logo and a mascot.
For the first time, we don't have host cities / stadiums, but it immediately goes to the heart of the matter- to the participating countries that starts with the title defender Germany, and not with the host nation. A total of 23 stickers formed one national team. Emblem, two team stickers while the rest are players.
In those years, Panini had problems with England and Spain. Instead of federation emblem Panini used official nation flag while 11 cutted player heads were used for the "team stickers". The English were presented in plain white T-shirts as in many WC and EURO albums afterwards, while the Spainsh players were in the jerseys of the clubs for which they played at that time.
EURO 2004
The championship held in Portugal in 2004 will be remembered for the
unprecedent feat of the Greek national team. Greece, as an outsider, won
the title, defeating many football giants in their way to the final - hosts
Portugal even twice (once in the group and second time in the most important
game- in the final), France and then very strong Czech team.
For this championship, of course, as for previous 6, we have an official Panini album. The album has 334 stickers, starting with the official logo, mascot and a trophy. We don't have stickers of the stadiums like in some previous editions, but they are already printed with the album.
The first of the countries in album is the host nation - Portugal, which is presented with a total of 23 stickers: emblem, two stickers for one team photo while the rest are players. Each of the nation have emblem and two team stickers but they do not have same number of player stickers. So some nations have a total of 23 stickers, some 21, 20 or 19 like Latvia.
Then there is Danish national team. It has 10 stickers in total: emblem and
nine players. Why? We are talking about same problem as with England. The
problem of Panini with Danish football federation. Unlike the English players,
the Italian company did not even had the image rights of some Danish
footballers like Helveg, Gravesen, Tomasson... The head of nine players Panini
photoshoped on a blue tracksuit. Next to these stickers, album also
contains a small squares with written names of other Denmark footballers.
On the internet you can also find those small stickers but they weren't printed by Panini. There is no federation emblem on gold sticker, just Denmark flag. Again, we have the same problem with English national team as in previous album. That is why we have flag instead of federation logo, cutted heads which are used for team stickers and players who are not in official jerseys but in plain white T-shirts.
EURO 2008
A domination of Spain national team begins in 2008, the domination
which will mark the history of world football by winning the three major
tournaments in a row. Again, we have two hosts, as was in 2000. This time
Austria and Switzerland.
The official Panini album from 2008 has a total of 535 stickers. The album
starts with introduction stickers, so on the first page we have the Panini
stamp, UEFA Fair Play sticker, trophy, championship logo and mascot. Next are
host cities stickers with their main symbols drawn with a hand. In addition, on
the next four pages, we also have stadiums and a panorama of the city, which
makes two stickers that forms panorama and stadium, appearing for the first time
since 1996.
Qualified national teams follow the introduction, cities and stadiums.
Unlike in 2004, each country has an equal number of stickers. The first team in
album is one of the hosts, Switzerland. Except the federation emblem, team
picture which is consisted of four stickers we also have a mascot in jersey of
each football team, and the main part - the players, which makes a total sum of
26 stickers per country. Each team have 20 player stickers while Netherlands
has 18. Instead of two players they have fan picture build up from two
stickers, which again bring us to a total sum of 26 stickers. I'm not quite
sure why is that with the Netherlands football team. After the qualified nations
we have "In Action" section, where we have stickers of some players
in moving format. The section that was always at the beginning, this time was
put in the end of album - the history of European championships where we have a
team picture for each of the champion. These stickers are silver.
This album is special because it's the first one for which we have an official update set (additional stickers that replace players in the album that for various reasons were not found in the final list of their managers). However, this set didn't include all countries but only: Italy, France, Switzerland, Poland, Portugal, Spain and Turkey. 32 players in total. Panini made the same error as in 1988 and 1992. Panini made same error as in 1988 and 1992. This time with Polish player Pawel Golanski where Panini used picture of his teammate Arkadiusz Glowacki, so Italian company printed a new sticker with his real picture.
EURO 2012
In 2012, Spain became first nation to defend to European championship
title.
Also, the Panini album followed the tournament. At the beginning of the
album we have a special Panini sticker, the official logo in two parts, a
mascot, slogan and a sticker that says "UEFA Respect". The 2012
championship was held in Poland and Ukraine.
Next stickers in album are host cities. For each of them there is one
sticker with view on the city and stadium in two parts.
The next topic appears for the first time in Panini EURO albums- each
sticker has a mascots in the host country's jerseys holding the official slogan
"Creating history together" in the language of each of the qualfied countries,
with the flag of each of these countries in the middle. Before we get to the
national teams, we have three more stickers: ball and a trophy in two
parts.
The first of the national teams in host nation Poland. 29 stickers for each
country. Team picture, just like in previous album, consist of four stickers.
In addition we have a mascot and a federation emblem. The rest are the players.
The three of them the most famous ones in the team, except in the regular
format, are also presented "in action" format. Like in 2008, in this
album we also have a history section at the end. Each of previous championship
is shown with two stickers, except the last one with three. This time, as in
some previous issues, we don't have a team picture of a champion and their best
player, but with the team picture we have another sticker where we can see the
celebration with the trophy. You need 539 stickers to complete this album. This
album has also some slightly different editions: German where the frame is in purple
opposited to the international version where we have a white frame and so
called platinum edition where the frame is yellow. This is the first EURO album
with hard cover edition. This year we also have update set- Panini updated the
wrong players for France and Italy (only these two countries).
In recent years, an unavoidable extra section in Panini albums, either EURO or WC, are Coca-Cola stickers. They can be found on the labels of bottles of already mentioned drink and we have extra pages for those stickers. This leads us to many different albums because if e.g. Germany has Coca-Cola stickers also has additional pages in the album. On that way album is, in one way, different from the classic international edition. If we also add Spain, Portugal, Hungary... to the list of countries that contain this type of stickers noting that each country has different Coca-Cola stickers. It all leads us to many different albums. It's relly crazy for those hard collectors who want collect everything about one albums.
EURO 2016
The championship in 2016 is the first EURO with 24 countries in the final
competition. So we can mention a few smaller countries that debuted at the
European championship but also in Panini albums: Albania, Iceland and
Wales.
The album, by default, starts with introductory stickers: logo, mascot,
trophy, ball and some others. We don't have cities and stadiums because they
are already printed in the album. This time we have a bit different formation
of the stickers in the album.
The first thing that catches your eye are the emblem and team sticker. Those stickers of four countries, which are in one group, have two separated pages. In previous editions, these stickers were together with player stickers. Also the team stickers are bit different. This time we have player celebrations instead of regular team photos. After the introdution of the group, next are player stickers. It begins with France – the host nation. Player profile stickers are displayed on two pages. This year we also have "in play" stickers. There were only three of them in 2012, but this year we have a complete first line-up. 5 stickers in total with two players on each sticker.
The first player, that has it's own sticker in that section is the best player of the team, according to Panini. After him, we have 10 other players that play in the line-up, but they come two on one sticker, which means they are ½ smaller than the star player. 2 nations are featured on that page, so after the first one, the second one comes on the bottom of that nation. After that section, we have the usual player stickers of that two nations. After that, the section with line up comes, and after that again two nations presented there. After that, the new group begins, and the cycle mentioned above repeats.
680 stickers are required to complete the album- which is a lot compared to
previous albums. The last pages contain pictures showing the history of past
EURO tournaments, but there aren't stickers for this section. If they were, we would
probably have to collect over 700 stickers.
When are we talking about Panini album from 2016, we have to mention
several important things.
Italian company made one big mistake during printing. On the pages of the
Croatian national team we can see emblem of Herceg-Bosna instead of the
official coat of arms of Republic Croatia. The Italians, of course, have
printed a new album with the right Croatian emblem that you could ordered from
Slovenian Distriest, the main distributor of Panini stickers for Slovenia. As
you can conclude, the album with the right emblem is very rare.
And in 2016 we have a special edition for Switzerland called gold edition.
Swiss edition also have a hard cover album with several other countries.
This is also the first EURO album which has the update set which includes all the nations. This way, all the players who were in the album but not on the final list were replaced with the new players. Updates from 2008 and 2012 didn't have all national teams.
EURO 2020 PREVIEW COLLECTION
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