It is the hot, sun-buttered summer of 1994. John Major is still the Prime Minister of the UK. Raith Rovers are just months away from unlikely glory in the the League Cup. Charles and Diana are still, somehow, legally married. And in the USA, the 1994 FIFA World Cup is in full swing.
It was the tournament of Romario’s genius, of Baggio’s ballooned penalty, of Escobar’s fatal own goal.
Diana Ross’s shambolic penalty kick, Maradona’s drug-fuelled final flourish, Salenko scoring five in a match, Jack Charlton going mental.
For the kids in my street, born in the mid-1980s, this was the first World Cup we could enjoy, the first we were truly aware of.
And it barely mattered that Scotland weren’t even there.
England had failed to qualify as well, and that fairly took the sting out of it.
But what actually mattered to us, as we huddled in playparks, as we whispered exotic surnames to one another, and emptied our pockets of their secret treasures, was the progress of our Panini sticker albums.
Unforgettable thrill of the Panini sticker album
What is it with children and stickers?
My daughter, Sofia, will do almost anything in the world for a little Paddington Bear reward sticker.
In my work as a teacher, I have seen students up to the age of 18 get all giddy and smiley over a gold star.
And when I was young, there was nothing – nothing – as exhilarating as a fresh, crisp, unopened packet of Panini football stickers.
The possibilities felt endless.
Would you uncover a rare, world class striker, to finish off a page?
Might you end up with a player you knew one of your pals badly coveted?
Or could you be about to gaze upon a glittering façade, the Panini equivalent of a Golden Ticket to Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory?
That’s right. A shiny.
Panini sticker album isn’t immune from inflation
The news for Panini enthusiasts in 2022 is bleak.
It was recently estimated that attempting to complete the sticker collection for the World Cup in Qatar could end up costing up to £870.
This is due to the way stickers are allocated to packets, and would of course result in many, many spares.
With the cost-of-living crisis, it’s hard to imagine that many families will see this outlay as a sound investment in the months before Christmas.
The price of the stickers has not, however, dampened demand in Argentina.
The popularity for this year’s supply has been so great that the country is struggling to maintain enough stock.
Parents have apparently threatened to sue Panini over the anxiety being suffered by their children over a lack of stickers, and the government briefly flirted with the idea of stepping in to offer resources.
The catalyst for this unprecedented uptake is believed to be the legendary Lionel Messi, who has claimed that this will be the last World Cup that he plays in.
Incidentally, Messi’s sticker is rumoured to be the hardest to find in the whole collection for the Qatar games.
Panini is king – I’m off down the shops
For me and my friends, completing the Panini sticker collection was the least of our concerns.
Did anyone have this Panini Italia 90 sticker album? pic.twitter.com/2jZ5VWSmXO
— 90’s Football Memories (@90sFootballUK1) November 12, 2022
I don’t recall actually getting that far in the endeavour.
Rather, the attraction was in the community and the camaraderie of it.
Running to the shops to get messages for your mum, because she’d let you spend the change on stickers.
Sitting in a circle at the school field, taking it in turns to flip through our stacks.
‘Swapsies’ was the highlight of the summer.
Analysing your friend’s pile of players, lusting after all the ones you still needed, disregarding all the ones you had, like sharks counting cards in a Las Vegas casino.
It was where we learned to negotiate, to barter and hustle: I’ll swap you Roger Mila and Steve Staunton for Jurgen Klinsmann.
A moment’s pause, a stroke of the chin. Then, a counteroffer: How about my Jurgen Klinsmann for your Gheorghe Hagi?
It was not the only collection I put together when I was younger.
I had a bit of a thing for Pogs for a while, and I seem to remember a random assortment of foreign coins.
But Panini was king. And it’s lovely to see that they retain that power over collectors today.
Next time I’m at the shops, maybe I’ll throw a couple of packs into my basket.
Well, you never know who you might get.
Alan Gillespie grew up in Glenrothes and teaches at an independent school in Glasgow. His debut novel ‘The Mash House’ was published in 2021.
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