venerdì 24 febbraio 2017

Panini Copa Centenario 2016 (Hardcover album)


One year after the Copa America 2015, Panini is back with the Copa Centenario edition, a special competition to celebrate 100 years of Copa America. Sixteen of the best American teams were invited and therefore included in the album. The competition was held in USA in June 2016. Chile confirmed the title of the previous year, defeating again Argentina with penalties in the final. 
The albums, which was released also in an hardcover version in Brazil, starts with the table of contents, the calendar of the competition and three special stickers: the Copa America Centenario logo (two stickers) and the official ball. Then cities and venues are shown on two pages. Here we find 10 stickers of the stadiums of the competition, whereas the corresponding cities are depicted only in pictures.
Teams are divided in four groups of four teams. Each team is displaced over three pages with a total of 24 stickers: the team badge (metallic stickers), the team photo (two stickers), and 21 players.



Group A: USA, Colombia, Costa Rica, Paraguay




Group B: Brazil, Ecuador, Haiti, Peru




Group C: Mexico, Uruguay, Jamaica, Venezuela




Group D: Argentina, Chile, Panama, Bolivia




After the teams are presenting, the album continues with the usual section of stickers in action. This section includes the main players of the competition. Here we find 36 stickers covering all the teams (1 to 3 players per team).




Considering the historical meaning of the competition, the albums includes six pages covering the history of Copa America since its first edition in 1916. Here there are 18 stickers of remarkable teams, players or moments of this competition.




The album ends with one page showing the roll of honour of the competition and one last (shining) sticker: the trophy of Copa Centenario 2016.


The back cover of the album

The hardcover album Panini Copa Centenario 2016 was released in Brazil

A sheet with 8 update stickers was released in Mexico, with 8 new players

The Barcelona trio at the Copa Centenario: Neymar, Suarez and Messi


Album details
Full name: Copa America Centenario USA 2016
Publisher: Panini
Competition: Copa America
Year: 2016
Hardcover album: Yes (Brazil)
Number of teams: 16
Stickers per team: 24
Other sections:
      -Introduction (3 stickers)
      -Stadiums (10 stickers)
      -In Action (36 stickers)
      -100 years of Copa America (18 stickers)
      -Roll of Honour (1 sticker)
Checklist: click here
Extra: 8 update stickers of Mexico (released in Mexico)

Total number of stickers: 452






sabato 18 febbraio 2017

Merlin Cyclisme 96 (Cards)


Cyclisme 96 is a card collection released by Merlin in France, Belgium and Switzerland in 1996. It includes all the best cyclists of the season divided by teams. Cards can be placed in a collector, which includes also a booklet with a review of all the teams and the main races of the season.

 The cover of the collector is a booklet with information about teams and the cycling season

Cards are numbered from 1 to 234. There are 9 cards for each of the 26 teams included. Moreover, there are 9 cards with the complete checklist of the collection. Cards are printed on two sides: on the front the biker in action and on the back his details with grades about his skills in the mountains, sprint, and time trial. The best climbers of the collection are Pantani, Chiappucci and Indurain. These riders are the only ones with maximum grades in the mountains. The season 1996, however, was not very positive for them: Indurain lost the Tour de France title after five wins in a row, Pantani was recovering after a terrible accident in autumn of 1995, and Chiappucci was not competitive as the previous years. The collection is filled, however, with many successful riders. With start with the Mapei of Tony Rominger, Abraham Olano, Johan Musseuw, and Franco Ballerini. Then Jalabert (Once), Bugno and Bartoli (MG), Berzin and Gotti (Gewiss), Cipollini, Casagrande and Cassani (Saeco), Virenque and Dufaux (Festina), Zabel and Rijs (Telekom), Gilberto Simoni (AKI), and so on. 

 Mapei team
 Mapei cards; here we find a young Franck Vandenbroucke

 The ONCE of Jalaber and Zulle

Pascal Richard (Olympic Champions in 1996) leader of MG Team

Gewiss with old winner (Berzin) and future winner (Gotti) of Giro d'Italia

The Banesto team of Miguel Indurain 

In Saeco we find the great sprint Mario Cipollini and climber Casagrande

A young Lance Armstrong was the captain of Motorola

With Pantani and Chiappucci the Carrera team was super in the mountains

Virenque, Dufaux and the other Festina riders

The Telekom team with Zabel and Tour de France winner Rijs (later both admitting use of doping) 

Team Polti with Rebellin, Leblanc and sprinter Lombardi

The Dutch Team TVM

Belgian team Lotto with Andrei Tchmil

 There are nine cards with the complete checklist of the collection

Front and back of Marco Pantani's card. "Il Pirata" was a legendary climber

Always a show in the mountains with Chiappucci and Indurain 

Davide Cassani (now coach of Italy) and sprinter Cipollini (World Champion in 2002)

Lance Armstrong's card (front and back)

Collection details
Full name: Cyclisme 96
Type: Cards
Publisher: Merlin Ultimate
Year: 1996
Sport: Cycling
Teams: 26
Cards per team: 9
Extra cards: checklist (9 cards)

Total number of cards: 234 + 9 checklist cards







domenica 12 febbraio 2017

Panini Futebol 2017


Panini published for the season 2016-17 a totally renovated collection of the Portuguese League. Futebol 2016-17 has a large size album, with plenty of special stickers for the three main clubs (Benfica, Porto and Sporting), a golden series with signed stickers of players in action (Serie Ouro), and a special section dedicated to the fresh European Champions, the National team of Cristiano Ronaldo & mates. The album has 444 stickers plus extra 40 update stickers (the series "Ampliaçao").
The album opens with the calendar of the season and the table of contents. The 18 teams of the Liga Nos 2016-17 are then shown in alphabetical order. Each team has 17 stickers over two pages: a metallic club badge and 16 players. Benfica, Porto and Sporting have two additional pages with 16 stickers each: 6 players, the team photo (two stickers), and 8 metallic stickers (Panini Generation, Super AtaqueIdolo (two stickers), and four Top Aquisiçoes). 








In the middle of the album there are two pages with the Serie Ouro, a new feature of this collection. We can find 16 special stickers of players in action with autograph. 







The last part of the album is dedicated to the heroes of Portugal, capable of conquering Euro 2016 in France. The first page of this section includes 8 action stickers about the matches played by Portugal at Euro 2016. Then there are 16 stickers of the most remarkable players of the National team and in the last page a big puzzle composed by 8 stickers of Portugal celebrating the title. 



Back cover of Futebol 2016-17

Update
There are 40 update stickers (Ampliaçao or so called Bis stickers) that can be found inside a new release of the sticker packs. Behind each sticker there is the name and number of the sticker that can be replaced. These update stickers can be either glued instead of the original sticker or kept separately. 

The list of the 40 Bis stickers is the following:
AROUCA – ZEQUINHA 13 BIS; KUCA 15 BIS
BELENENSES – FLORENT 24 BIS; VÍTOR GOMES 28 BIS; ABEL CAMARÁ 32 BIS 
BENFICA – LISANDRO 42 BIS; CELIS 45 BIS; ZIVKOVIC 47 BIS; ZÉ GOMES 54 BIS BOAVISTA – AGAYEV 69 BIS; DIGAS 81 BIS 
BRAGA – PEDRO TIBA 94 BIS; RUI FONTE 98 BIS; STOJILJKOVIC 100 BIS 
CHAVES – PAULINHO 104 BIS; 
ESTORIL – JOÃO AFONSO 123 BIS; JOEL 126 BIS 
FEIRENSE – VIEIRINHA 147 BIS; TIAGO SILVA 148 BIS; KARAMANOS 151 BIS 
MARÍTIMO – XAVIER 166 BIS; BALDÉ 167 BIS 
MOREIRENSE - FATI 182 BIS 
NACIONAL – VICTOR GARCÍA 189 BIS; HAMZAOUI 202 BIS 
PAÇOS DE FERREIRA – MÁRIO FELGUEIRAS 221 BIS; FILIPE FERREIRA 225 BIS; RICARDO VALENTE 233 BIS 
PORTO – BRAHIMI 249 BIS; SÉRGIO OLIVEIRA 250 BIS; JOÃO CARLOS TEIXEIRA 251 BIS RIO AVE – NÉLSON MONTE 275 BIS 
SPORTING – PETROVIC 299 BIS; BRUNO PAULISTA 300 BIS; ANDRÉ 305 BIS
TONDELA – KAKÁ 324 BIS 
V. GUIMARÃES – PEDRO HENRIQUE 341 BIS; HERNÂNI 345 BIS. 
V.SETÚBAL – JOÃO AMARAL 364 BIS; JOSÉ MANUEL 369 BIS

The 40 update stickers 

The four stickers of Danilo Pereira of this collection: portrait, Serie Ouro, and Idolo (composed by two stickers)

 Panini Generation stickers for the young promising players Nelson Semedo and Ruben Semedo

Heroes of Euro 2016: Cristiano Ronaldo and Eder

The youngest player of the collection is Zè Gomes (1999), who made his debut with Benfica first team this season. Another interesting prospect of Benfica is Zivkovic, transferred from Partizan Belgrad. Both stickers are part of the 40 Bis stickers of this collection


Young players in the album (born 1996 or younger)
Bernardo Dias (1997, Belenenses), Danilo, Gonçalo Guedes, and André Horta (all 1996, Benfica), Alisson (1996, Estoril), Chidozie, Ruben Neves and Diogo Jota (1997, 1997, and 1996, Porto), Gil Dias (1996, Rio Ave), Raphinha (1996, V. Guimaraes)
Stickers Bis:Zivkovic (1996, Benfica), Zé Gomes (1999, Benfica), Vierinha (1996, Feirense)

Album details
Full name: Futebol 2016-17
Publisher: Panini
Release: October 2016
League: Portuguese Liga Nos
Season: 2016-2017
Number of teams: 18
Stickers per team: 33 for Benfica, Porto, Sporting, 17 for the others
Other sections:
      -Serie Ouro (16 stickers)
      -Herois do Portugal (32 stickers)
Extra stickers: 40 Bis stickers 

Total number of stickers: 402 + 40 Bis stickers