First European Football Championship without “Panini pictures” – Topps album with new features
Published: Friday, May 24th 2024, 11:01
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Collecting, swapping, sticking. A good three weeks before the start of the European Football Championship in Germany, it's time for collectible picture fever again. For fans of the pictures, however, a change of provider changes a lot. The big rush for stickers has yet to materialize.
"Topps" instead of "Panini pictures" is the name of the game today. For the first time in 44 years, the Italian cult brand is not providing the official collector's album for the 2024 European Football Championship. It was outbid by the American manufacturer Topps.
A lot of money is at stake. Panini generated €1.3 billion in revenue from the World Cup in Russia in 2018. The "Winter World Cup" in Qatar in 2022, on the other hand, brought in less for the Italians. Expectations were "adjusted downwards" due to the late timing of the tournament.
So now it's Topps' turn. And unlike the last World Cup in Qatar, the European Championship in Germany is taking place at the "right" time of year again. So will "Panini fever" be replaced by "Topps fever"?
Sellers are "satisfied"
Topps left a corresponding inquiry unanswered. In any case, the feedback from the sales outlets has been mixed. The majority of Valora, Interdiscount and Co. are "satisfied" with the first month.
Experience shows that interest increases as the tournament approaches, explained kiosk operator Valora. Collecting fever only really breaks out "towards the start of a tournament".
According to Migros, sales of Topps trading cards and albums are "very pleasing" and have exceeded expectations. The sales figures were higher than those of the Panini pictures from the last European Championship.
At the Coop, on the other hand, demand is "lower" than at previous tournaments. And demand for a European Championship is generally lower than for a World Cup.
After all, and also in principle: the pictures sell better when Switzerland is at a tournament. So there is still hope.
Big losers: Kiosk
"Today was another dead period," explains Joe Bürli, owner of the Quellenstrasse kiosk in Zurich. And: "Today I only sell half as many stickers and albums as I used to". By saying "in the past", Bürli is looking a long way back. Since 2006, wholesalers such as Migros, Coop and Aldi as well as online retailers have also been selling football stickers.
Before that, the sale of Panini pictures was solely in the hands of the kiosks - and played a not insignificant role. In earlier years, Valora always emphasized the "Panini effect": In years when there were little pictures of the ball artists to buy, the annual result was usually better.
Dicke's scrapbook
Anyone who has set out to fill the new "Topps" album will need a lot of patience - and money. No fewer than 728 stickers have to be stuck in, compared to 670 for the World Cup in Qatar and 528 for the last European Championship in England in 2022.
One of the reasons for this is that the collector can also stick in players from nine countries who did not qualify. There are also various additional stickers for each team. Many stars are missing because the image rights are still held by Panini.
But the Americans want much more. In addition to the classic stickers and cards, some of the more valuable trading cards, which are otherwise only available in more expensive packages, are also interspersed.
"Trading cards" not yet a trend
The cardboard cards printed on the front and back are extremely popular with fans in the USA. Collecting trading cards has become a lucrative business, with rare cards selling for huge sums of money.
In any case, Topps does not yet seem to have been able to establish the trend in this country: The collector's cards sell "clearly less well" than the regular trading cards, according to Migros, for example.
There is also strong competition for the "Bildli" from "non-fungible tokens" (NTFs) - the sports business has also discovered the tokens for itself. In the USA, the hype surrounding stickers is increasingly shifting to the internet.
This trend from the American professional leagues has apparently not yet spilled over to Europe either. "We can't see the influence of NFTs here yet," says Valora, for example. This is because stickers are still emotionally driven. Collecting, swapping, sticking.
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