Only Good Stickers: Panini Foot 2012

venerdì 10 maggio 2013

Panini Foot 2012 - France

Panini Foot 2011-12 is the official sticker collection dedicated to French football for the 2011/2012 season, covering both Ligue 1 and Ligue 2. With a remarkable total of 712 stickers, this is one of the largest domestic football collections produced by Panini at the time, enriched by update sets and special sections that make the album particularly dynamic and representative of the season.

The album opens with an introductory page featuring sticker number 00, celebrating 50 years of Panini (1961–2011). The main part of the album is dedicated to the 20 Ligue 1 clubs, presented in alphabetical order. Each club is allocated 25 stickers across two pages. The layout includes a golden club badge, a team photo composed of two stickers, the manager, a metallic action sticker of the star player, and 20 player portrait stickers completing the squad.

One interesting feature of this collection is the inclusion of the “Zone Transferts” on each Ligue 1 team page. These reserved spaces are designed for stickers from the “Mercato Hivernal” update set, dedicated to winter transfers. The update collection includes a total of 52 stickers, allowing collectors to keep the album aligned with the squad changes made during the January transfer window. Since some clubs received more than four transfer stickers while others received fewer, integrating all the update stickers into the album can be challenging.

Before the Ligue 2 section, the album features two special thematic inserts. The first is “Le Film du Championnat”, a recap of the season’s highlights composed of 10 stickers distributed through two special packets with the magazine "France Football". This section celebrates the major protagonists of the campaign, including Montpellier HSC, champions of Ligue 1, and SC Bastia, winners of Ligue 2. It also highlights the best team of the first half of the season, Paris Saint-Germain F.C., and several standout players such as Olivier Giroud, Hervé Guy Roland Barbosa, Salvatore Sirigu, and Eden Hazard.

The second special section is dedicated to the France women's national football team. Spread over two pages, this segment includes the coach and 17 players. Each sticker contains two players, resulting in a total of 9 stickers to complete the section.

The album then concludes with the Ligue 2 section. The 20 clubs of the second division are each represented on a single page with 7 stickers: the golden club badge, the team photo, and five player stickers.

From a sporting perspective, the 2011/12 season is remembered above all for the historic Ligue 1 triumph of Montpellier, who sensationally finished ahead of the heavily favored Paris Saint-Germain. Olivier Giroud emerged as one of the stars of the season, playing a decisive role in Montpellier’s title-winning campaign.

Overall, Panini Foot 2011-12 is a rich and comprehensive collection that successfully captures the entirety of French professional football during the 2011/12 season. Its extensive squad coverage, elegant golden stickers, update system, and special thematic sections make it one of the most complete and engaging Panini albums dedicated to French football.