The Cultural Soundtrack of the World Cup
- The World Cup has an ultimate soundtrack, which is the refrain of fans sifting through packs of World Cup stickers, with the phrase "Got, got, need" being a common expression among them, as they try to complete their albums 10s.
- The Panini sticker phenomenon began when four brothers in Italy, the Paninis, started printing collectibles featuring images of players from every country in the competition before the 1970 World Cup, and more than 50 years later, it has become a booming international business 42s.
- Fans all over the globe scour for obscure players or elusive ones like Lionel Messi, hoping to complete their albums, which contain 670 stickers depicting the players and teams from the World Cup 2m6s.
- Collecting Panini stickers has become a central part of the World Cup experience for millions of soccer fans, who embark on a common treasure hunt to find the stickers they need to complete their albums 2m6s.
The Origins and Growth of the Panini Sticker Phenomenon
- Francesco Pernari, the biggest official Panini distributor in the United States, is a Panini sticker evangelist who has completed every sticker album since 1974, and he predicts that sticker sales from 2022 will reach 100 million packets in the US alone 4m0s.
- The popularity of Panini stickers can be attributed to the fact that they allow fans to touch and own a piece of their favorite players, and the sensation of ripping open a pack and finding the players is something that cannot be replicated in an electronic way 6m0s.
- The Panini headquarters in Modena, Italy, is where the stickers are produced, with 11 million packets being printed every day, each containing five stickers, and the company's history dates back to after World War II, when Olga Panini and her four sons ran a newspaper kiosk in the town 10m0s.
- Giuseppe Panini, the oldest son, was the dreamer with the big plans, and his initial idea was to sell cards depicting flowers, but it was a disaster, and he later turned to Italian soccer as a new subject, which became a huge success 12m0s.
- The Panini sticker phenomenon began with a rudimentary production process, where stickers were printed, cut, and mixed with a shovel to prevent duplicates, before Giuseppe's brother, Umberto, invented machinery that mixed stickers, a design still in use today, 60 years later 10s.
- The company's growth mirrored the growth of soccer, and before the 1970 World Cup in Mexico, they paid $1,000 cash to buy the rights to produce stickers of the players, including the great Pelé, which made Panini chiefly associated with a worldwide pastime 42s.
The Production and Evolution of Panini Stickers
- Collecting World Cup albums became a rite of passage and a way to mark time, with notable players like Diego Armando Maradona and a young Lionel Messi appearing in the albums over the decades 2m6s.
- Panini's project manager, Marcello Minori, oversees image control and sometimes uses Photoshop to edit pictures, removing imperfections like pimples or adjusting hairstyles, but draws the line at altering a player's face 2m6s.
- Some players, like Gigi Buffon, still collect stickers as adults, with Buffon admitting to buying packets of stickers and swapping them with teammates in the locker room, where he estimates 60 to 70% of players fill the album 2m6s.
The Role of Players and Collectors in the Sticker Culture
- Buffon's favorite sticker is from the 2006 album, the last time Italy won the World Cup, and he understands the significance of appearing in the albums for generations to come 2m6s.
- Johnny Bellini, considered the most prolific Panini collector in the world, has thousands of stickers, including five debut edition Mexico 1970 albums, which he keeps in his home, a sticker repository that even extends to his daughter's room 2m6s.
- Johnny Bellini has a large collection of half a million stickers that are stored in every drawer and even hidden under a tablecloth, which is considered sacred and off-limits for eating, with his wife Giovanna having a sense of humor about his extensive collection 10s.
- Bellini's stickers are rare and valuable to him, and in the event of a fire, he would prioritize rescuing them over other possessions, with his wife joking that she could fend for herself but the stickers could not 42s.
The Intergenerational Tradition of Sticker Collecting
- The tradition of collecting stickers is being passed down to new generations, with parents and grandparents who grew up collecting stickers in the 1970s now sharing the hobby with their children, as seen in the case of Francesco Fornari in Florida 2m6s.
- Completing a sticker album is often achieved through face-to-face trading rather than purchasing, with organized swapping sessions and impromptu trades taking place around the world, including in locations like Qatar 2m6s.
- The feeling of completing a sticker album is compared to scoring a goal in the final of a tournament, with the hobby providing a sense of nostalgia and community that transcends generations and borders 2m6s.
- The value of the stickers is largely sentimental, and the hobby relies on human interaction and the tactile experience of touching and trading physical stickers, which helps to bring people and countries together in a shared experience 2m6s.
