bye bye panini

[DecjeNovineFan]

Panini and FIFA’s partnership to end after 2030 World Cup

The first Panini World Cup sticker album was produced for the 1970 finals in Mexico.

www.irvinetimes.com

It’s not like Topps is any different, but I honestly don’t feel sorry for Panini at all. The quality of their sticker albums gets worse every single year — cheap paper, parallel stickers, albums with a thousand stickers and a million different versions, all driven by greed.


Before 1994, everything was fine, and that’s how it should have stayed forever: one version, high-quality stickers, and proper albums. What we have today is terrible, and I don’t feel bad for them. The only thing that’s worse is that Topps is an even bigger piece of trash and just as greedy.

 

[Pillman]

DAMN!!! It's the end of an era (and maybe the end of Panini as well ? )

 

[Suisse]

World Cup 2030 , Panini

World Cup 2034 , Topps

 

[LFC1892]

Not surprised at all. Called this with other here months ago. Panini don't have the resources anymore to pay for big contracts nor do they give a shit at producing good albums anymore.

Sad thing is Monopoly in the market never a good thing, but that's a very American thing to dominate everything.

Fanatics are slowly ruining the hobby and by the time 2030 comes they will have every country under the sun contracted to them for cards and stickers.

This is a sad day for collectors present and future.

 

[Pillman]

World Cup 2034 , Topps

I hope and pray Topps will make some major improvements by then,same goes for Euro 2028,cause 2024 was

 

[GStephens]

Not surprised at all. Called this with other here months ago. Panini don't have the resources anymore to pay for big contracts nor do they give a shit at producing good albums anymore.

Sad thing is Monopoly in the market never a good thing, but that's a very American thing to dominate everything.

Fanatics are slowly ruining the hobby and by the time 2030 comes they will have every country under the sun contracted to them for cards and stickers.

This is a sad day for collectors present and future.

I agree entirely. I along with others sounded this alarm a little while back. It was as inevitable as anything you could imagine.

It’s not like Topps is any different, but I honestly don’t feel sorry for Panini at all. The quality of their sticker albums gets worse every single year — cheap paper, parallel stickers, albums with a thousand stickers and a million different versions, all driven by greed.

Before 1994, everything was fine, and that’s how it should have stayed forever: one version, high-quality stickers, and proper albums. What we have today is terrible, and I don’t feel bad for them. The only thing that’s worse is that Topps is an even bigger piece of trash and just as greedy.

I don't blame Panini for the 1000 stickers. The tournament was expanded to a silly amount of teams and there are rumours that 2030 will go to 64 so who knows how many stickers that would be?!

Panini produces less parallels than Topps but they are not smart with the way they do things. They just needed to produce a smart, good quality collection every 4 years. That's it, that's the remit. I'm sick of hearing about bottom lines and profit, now they lose a hell of a lot of profit with no license at all.

One of the main problems in my opinion has been Panini America. We might not like how Panini does things but there is no doubt that Panini America is worse, with endless editions and variations for no reason other than greed and profit.

The hobby is going to eat itself, I don't know what state we'll be in by 2034.

 

[DecjeNovineFan]

I agree entirely. I along with others sounded this alarm a little while back. It was as inevitable as anything you could imagine.


I don't blame Panini for the 1000 stickers. The tournament was expanded to a silly amount of teams and there are rumours that 2030 will go to 64 so who knows how many stickers that would be?!

Panini produces less parallels than Topps but they are not smart with the way they do things. They just needed to produce a smart, good quality collection every 4 years. That's it, that's the remit. I'm sick of hearing about bottom lines and profit, now they lose a hell of a lot of profit with no license at all.

One of the main problems in my opinion has been Panini America. We might not like how Panini does things but there is no doubt that Panini America is worse, with endless editions and variations for no reason other than greed and profit.

The hobby is going to eat itself, I don't know what state we'll be in by 2034.

Trophy stickers, stadium, maskots, national team sticker, team badges, coach, players, simple design, thick-quality stickers, album paper quality—like it used to be until 1994. One single version of stickers for everyone. An album of flags: Europe, Asia, North America, South America, Australia & New Zealand.
This is how everything should have stayed. What’s happening now is just pure greed—it’s not collecting anymore, it’s their greed. And also our greed, those of us who sell and collect. But people aren’t really to blame—if you give them a chance to make money, everyone will go for it.
Still, in general, this has destroyed collecting, along with the greed of Panini and Topps. What I wrote is the way it should be—that’s the rule. All years should have stayed like that. The last 20 years have been awful.

 

[GStephens]

Trophy stickers, stadium, maskots, national team sticker, team badges, coach, players, simple design, thick-quality stickers, album paper quality—like it used to be until 1994. One single version of stickers for everyone. An album of flags: Europe, Asia, North America, South America, Australia & New Zealand.
This is how everything should have stayed. What’s happening now is just pure greed—it’s not collecting anymore, it’s their greed. And also our greed, those of us who sell and collect. But people aren’t really to blame—if you give them a chance to make money, everyone will go for it.
Still, in general, this has destroyed collecting, along with the greed of Panini and Topps. What I wrote is the way it should be—that’s the rule. All years should have stayed like that. The last 20 years have been awful.

If everything stayed exactly the same it would create its own problems. There is no doubt though that the changes have been largely negative.

Different Panini versions are not new. WC 94 had lots of versions. WC 90 & 94 there were Brazilian versions that weren't even self-adhesive stickers. I have a set of Decje Novine WC 86 stickers that are official but not as good quality. WC 86 had an Asian version.

I stopped collecting for a little while in 2014 because there were so many extras suddenly. In the last 12 years it's go worse and worse and worse, more so than the 44 years before that combined. The next years are going to be a terrible shock to a lot of collectors

 

[DecjeNovineFan]

If everything stayed exactly the same it would create its own problems. There is no doubt though that the changes have been largely negative.

Different Panini versions are not new. WC 94 had lots of versions. WC 90 & 94 there were Brazilian versions that weren't even self-adhesive stickers. I have a set of Decje Novine WC 86 stickers that are official but not as good quality. WC 86 had an Asian version.

I stopped collecting for a little while in 2014 because there were so many extras suddenly. In the last 12 years it's go worse and worse and worse, more so than the 44 years before that combined. The next years are going to be a terrible shock to a lot of collectors

i collect only decje novine till 1992 but that is not same, we here print decje novine not panini, now when panini print all it all should stay same only album flags different for each continent, they can work on better design that is all they need to do, and keep quality high

 

[alekmoloko]

Before 1994, everything was fine, and that’s how it should have stayed forever:

No. Things should move on. Standstill in the past is a reason why Panini lost their licence. Albums was mostly same in decades. And last two Worls Cup collection show this problem.
Extra stickers? 1 : 100 packets - ignore it, if you don't like it. Or throw it away. Since you got probably 2 of them.
Many different editions? Ignore it once again, because there is only one edition available in your country. So collect what you have in stores, and that's it.
But copy-paste same content every 4 years - that is the main problem for me. No passion during collecting, because you already know all the content before grab album into hands. Even if you not follow Panini social media or forums or Youtube, you can predict most of the album content and design if you collect World Cup at least once.

 

[DecjeNovineFan]

No. Things should move on. Standstill in the past is a reason why Panini lost their licence. Albums was mostly same in decades. And last two Worls Cup collection show this problem.
Extra stickers? 1 : 100 packets - ignore it, if you don't like it. Or throw it away. Since you got probably 2 of them.
Many different editions? Ignore it once again, because there is only one edition available in your country. So collect what you have in stores, and that's it.
But copy-paste same content every 4 years - that is the main problem for me. No passion during collecting, because you already know all the content before grab album into hands. Even if you not follow Panini social media or forums or Youtube, you can predict most of the album content and design if you collect World Cup at least once.

if you ignore it and most people not collecting is still change

 

[alekmoloko]

if you ignore it and most people not collecting is still change

My main point that not extra stickers and parallels ruin union between FIFA and Panini.
And if you think that was the problem - you are wrong.
Because Topps will make even more different parallels, and rare sub-series for FIFA World Cup 2034 collection.
But Topps at least design whole collection in a different way.

 

[byoplayer]

These are sad news, and the image of how a simple hobby can become a market almost impossible to maintain. With Topps, I expect low-quality stickers at high prices, with shitty customer service. Worst, they won't have competition.

On the other hand, and in my opinion, Panini can't do a better world cup sticker album because of FIFA and players' rights, etc. The price of the packs is the image of a market manipulated by FIFA.

I collect calciatori, Futebol and La liga albums and they have a good quality. On the other hand, Bundesliga stickers from Topps are the worst.

Difficult times will come for collectors

 

[Pillman]

I wonder with the end of Panini-FIFA partnership does that mean the end of FIFA 365 and collections like World Class ? Or are those separate from WC license ?

 

[GStephens]

But Topps at least design whole collection in a different way.

I agree. The Topps collections actually look visibly quite good. It is impossible to complete anything but they do look very polished. Euro 2024 is a terrible exception to that statement.

These are sad news, and the image of how a simple hobby can become a market almost impossible to maintain. With Topps, I expect low-quality stickers at high prices, with shitty customer service. Worst, they won't have competition.

On the other hand, and in my opinion, Panini can't do a better world cup sticker album because of FIFA and players' rights, etc. The price of the packs is the image of a market manipulated by FIFA.

The quality of the stickers will be the usual very thin paper they use now. It will be disappointing and they will curl as soon as you open them from the packet.

I disagree about Panini being hindered by FIFA. The designs of their premium cards under the FIFA labels are not boring. With the stickers they are simply lazy. The photoshop is poor and amateurish, it is not what you expect of a company releasing the crown jewel in their portfolio.

I guarantee that visibly the stickers for WC 2034 are going to look great. There is no way that they will not learn from the mistakes of Euro 2024. They are gaining licenses for individual nations fast too with Argentina being the latest. The first EPL stickers of their new license look good, I expect the same sort of thing.

The other thing nobody is mentioning is timing. The timing of this announcement seems deliberate to piss Panini off. Why announce the 2034 license now? That will be Fanatics playing games.

I can see the 3 Reyes collections gaining a lot of new fans, although it will not make any impact.

 

[GStephens]

I wonder with the end of Panini-FIFA partnership does that mean the end of FIFA 365 and collections like World Class ? Or are those separate from WC license ?

Good question. If it is not covered now it will be a license that Topps acquires in the coming months.

 

[LFC1892]

I wonder with the end of Panini-FIFA partnership does that mean the end of FIFA 365 and collections like World Class ? Or are those separate from WC license ?

Topps already have PSG as license which is why we had Paris as their name in fifa365 this season. Argentina will be next, brace yourself for no badge but rather a generic striped shirt. Very annoyed personally because I love the fifa365 axl/stickers. Collected every single one of them for 11 years and now we might get a half arsed collection with teams in generic shirts. All the big clubs that both companies release products for will be affected one way or another.

 

[bry17may]

Well, at least from my side 2030 will be my last WC collection, I always based my collection on national teams done by Panini. I know they can be blame for many things, the greed part for me is not only from their side, even with all they are getting this time with many versions was not enough to cover FIFA greed that literally Infantino said

“So, from FIFA’s point of view, we can globalize that fan engagement precisely thanks to our global tournament portfolio. And this provides another important commercial revenue stream that we channel back, as always, into the game.”

A better solution would have been to split license where Panini can make sticker and Topps can make cards, but this is a dreamful thing.

 

[GStephens]

Argentina will be next, brace yourself for no badge but rather a generic striped shirt.

They actually announced the exclusive Argentina license a few days ago so that’s another one gone

 

[Pillman]

Jeez,with so many licenses lost,where will Panini go from here ? How will they recover from this or maybe CAN they recover from this in the future ?