Favourite Album and Sticker

[Sorolla]

Recently there is not much activity,so I decided to create this thread.Which is you favourite album/collection and sticker?Why?Do you like the design or you associate it with great memory?

My personal favourite is the Euro 2004 album.This was the last time my country played on a big tournament and it was also my first one.One the other side I also like the design,which is pretty strange for me,bacause when I look back I feel like the designs are not that special.But time goes and the things develop.

I would be very happy to hear about your choices.
Sorry if this thread was already created.

 

[Sergio Z]

Uhm... that's a hard question. I don't know, there are too many albums I like (in terms of design, data, etc.), but if someone told me that I need to get rid of my collection except for one album, I would surely keep this one:



Actually, this is the second album I got (from the ones I currently have), but I consider it as the first one, because I think this is when I really started my collection. I got really excited with this album because I've been trying to complete World Cup albums in the past and I couldn't, so getting all the stickers for Germany 2006 was a real achievement, even if I had to wait too many years for doing so (by that year, I was 15). So, there's a priceless story behind this album. Completing it motivated me to collect more stuff in the following years.

I have very good memories from that year and that World Cup. I was in 10th grade in high school and matches were played during classes, so there were days I didn't go to school only because I wanted to see the World Cup (I saw Ronaldo's 15th goal live, for instance). That was one of the best World Cups I have seen in my whole life!

Also, I like it because of the design. I hadn't collected any Panini WC album before (only Navarrete) and I was surprised by the "official" stuff and the details. Data was more accurate and it featured all the logos and emblems from 31 teams (Later I found out why England's badge didn't appear in the album).

Other albums I like are UEFA Euro 2012, Champions League 2014-15, France 98 (although I don't have one), Copa América 2015 (hard cover) and WWC Canada 2015

 

[dantzig]

@Sorolla Funny, even though I'm portuguese, Euro 2004 for me is one of the worst albums from Panini, like Euro 2000 (though I liked the team pages in here)... Not because of design of the pages or the stickers, but because of he structure, it's too poor (just some quick intro and team stickers).

Design-wise, I like Euro 88 and 2008 collections, first for the design and second because it was "fresh", much more detailed than 2004.
From World Cups, don't have a particular favourite, I always think they could be much better (too much focused on players and stadiums, plus always the same "recipe" in the past years)
From CL, I like the past two seasons, but I can't consider them my favourites because I'm still against horizontal stickers with such small size.

But from memories, Euro 92 and USA 94 brings me such good memories, because they were the only ones I did when I was a child... Mostly USA 94, because after buying some loose packets and get about 80 different, my mother bought me a full box and I spent all night opening packets with her, my sister and her boyfriend I'll never forget that in the last packet, I had 7 missing and so, even if I get 6 new (each packet had 6 stickers), I would still miss one... And it really came 6 new ones, so I was so sad for missing just one... But then, my sister had the idea to check again the bag where we thrown away the ripped packets and the backs... And after searching a bit, there it was the last sticker! So a box probably had all the stickers, though I can't confirm it since I had already 80 stickers in the album.

Then, in the following days, I sold so many stickers to my friends, each sticker costing 5 escudos (about 2.5 cents today), the actual price per sticker if you bought a packet (30 escudos).

World Cup 2010 also brings good memories, because it was my comeback to this hobby and the collection itself is probably the best collection in terms of sticker ratio.

 

[Pavle]

I have the best memories of Euro 88, even though its probably one of the ugliest albums ever. I love Germany 2006 and Africa 2010, for same reasons @dantzig does. They brought me back into the hobby.
Speaking of best album in terms of quality, text, stats, innovation, my vote goes to Copas as Todas 2013 (review here) and Manchester United 2006 (possibly the most innovative album I have seen in 10 years).

 

[dantzig]

I have the best memories of Euro 88, even though its probably one of the ugliest albums ever. I love Germany 2006 and Africa 2010, for same reasons @dantzig does. They brought me back into the hobby.
Speaking of best album in terms of quality, text, stats, innovation, my vote goes to Copas as Todas 2013 (review here) and Manchester United 2006 (possibly the most innovative album I have seen in 10 years).

Really, you think Euro 88 is ugly? I think it's very nice, but ok, Berni always brings me good memories of my childhood (still think it's the best mascot ever!), so I might be biased in here...

Will check that Man Utd 2006 collection... It had Ronaldo there, so it's an excuse for checking out too But from Man Utd, I would like to check the 2007/08 season, what a team they had back then.

But to me, overall, the best albums are those with animals, places, dinossaurs, bla bla bla... Like National Geographic stuff... They're always so pretty and with lots of interesting information... Mostly made for kids, but every grown-up loves it too.

 

[Diego Lucas]

My favorite is the FWC Brazil 2014, the hype here in Brazil for complete the album was amazing!

 

[Makhno]

Spain 82. The first WC album I collected as a child. I love it, especially the poster stickers for each town at the beginning. I had a giant poster in my bedroom and I went back from my spanish holydays with tons of "Naranjito"stuff : sport bag, key rings, mug and so on. This WC is still mythical here in France because of the semi final against West Germany. We still don't understand how we lost this game... Well, the referre gave a good hand to the germans after their goalkeeper, Harald Schumacher, broke the jaw and vertebras to Battiston. He felt in coma for several minutes but the referee tought Schumacher's aggression was correct (!!!!!). No card, no foul. I think Schumacher is one of the most hated guy in France, still today.

 

[dantzig]

Wow, usually those player vs goalkeeper shocks happen really fast, like goalkeeper arriving to the ball just tenths of seconds later (no intentional aggresion), but that... That was clearly to hurt the french player... No goalkeeping stance, no look at the ball, just looking at the player and jumping with his shoulder in the front... Read in some comments that Schumacher wasn't "mentally stable" at the time, due to steroids... Is it true?

Speaking of hate, I have to think about if there's someone we really hate here in Portugal... I can only think of Marc Batta, the referee who sent off Rui Costa in a Portugal crucial match against Germany, which we needed to win to go to France 98... We were winning 1-0 and because Rui Costa was taking too long to come out in a substitution, Batta gave him a 2nd yellow and sent him off (obviously, no substitution happened)... With only 10 and against the mighty Germany, Portugal conceded a goal and with the draw, was off France 98... Years later, Batta apologized, but Rui Costa never forgave him (in the video, you can see him crying in the sidelines)... Also, this was the only red card Rui Costa got in his entire career.

Btw, title of the video expresses very clearly the portuguese feelings against that referee... And if you think Rui Costa was really taking that long (which could easily been discounted in the extra time), you can see here at 5:30 how much has Rui Costa took to come out... Yes, the usual time a fatigued player from a team winning at the time normally takes... He even started running in the end, but Batta has decided already to sent him off... Yeah, the more I remember this, the more I really hate that guy.

 

[MrKoko]

My favorite album from Panini's WC and Euro are:
Euro 84, i was 7 years old and i remenber to open packets with my dad, so good memories.
Mexico 86, i remenber to swap stickers with the other kids and the last stickers were bought in a cafe in downtown Porto city. I remenber that packets cost 20 escudos (10 cents) with 6 stickers )))))))

Even beautiful ones are Euro 88 with Berni, lots of shiny's and the referees and Euro 92.

 

[Ceesmk]

As for me, the most beautiful album is Champions of Europe 1955-2005, really high class! For the design, I like the German Bundesliga 2001, which was "on fire", very modern and different. Two other albums are for me really well realized. The English Football 1988, for the hundred years of the English Championship, and The Dutch Voetbal 1989, with the Marco Van Basten's team in deux pages: every European champion in shiny and class sticker, and the rest of the album is very well coloured.

 

[Helios]

Football clubs published in 1975(!)
Clubs around the world. Tons of badges and shinies.
The design is just fine art.
Seventies & eighties the golden era of panini.
Gotta check that out,folks.

 

[Ceesmk]

You're right, I like Football Clubs 1975 too^^ Imagine the same album with shiny stickers^^ For the shiny stickers, my prefer were during the 80s (for example French football 85, 86 same stickers for English and German League)

 

[LFC1892]

Stickers :

Many to choose from but my late 70's early 80's English League still special. WC 1978 is still my favourite from all the WC editions. Maybe because it was the 1st one I ever started for the WC at the age of 9. It was such a well made collection.
I loved looking at the different city pictures from the first few pages. I still want to go to Cordoba & Mendoza beaches, dammit.
From the recent sticker collection I thought the E2008 & 2012 were well made.


Cards :

When I was a wee kid in England I collected the PRO SET which came in packets with gum attached to it. I hated it when the piece of gum got stuck on one card and I had to rip it off gently so it wouldn't ruin the card. It was a tough battle to say the least.
The last one I completed was the 90/91 season which I have safe in a red binder as seen below. It was simple and beautiful.
Nowadays the Topps & Panini AXL are good but not consistent enough.
The Premier League 09/10 is a fave of mine so is the Champions League 14/15 which in my opinion is the best one for this competition. Lovely well thought of sub-sets and LEs(although way too many to collect).

For Int'l competitions the trading card collection for WC 2002, 2006, 2010 & 2014 Prizm are all special and unique. So is the Euro 2008.

FIFA365 is probably the best Panini has made in years for both stickers & cards.

 

[Dieter]

For me it's 1994 WC, because it was my first album i collected. Knowing all the players etc.
Since i restarted collecting 2 years ago i find it a great challenge to find all the different albums (empty) and all the stickers with different backs.
Before '94 it's hard to 'love' them because i lack memories of those periods...

 

[supertifoso]

I have got Euro 88, 04,08,12. World Cup, 98,02,06,10,14

My Top 3 ; 1) Wold Cup 2014 Brasil- 2) Euro 2012 Ukraine-Poland 3) World Cup 1998 France.