martedì 28 maggio 2019

Alianza Lima - Album de Oro


The Peruvian club Alianza Lima published in 2017 a sticker album with 227 stickers in 56 pages about the history of the club. The main purpose of this collection was to raise money to improve infrastructures for the young teams of the club. The album was released with the full set of stickers through the club stores.  
The album starts with a section about the beginnings of the club (La Fundacion), which was founded on 15 February 1901 with the name Sport Alianza. 



Nuestra Piel ("our skin") shows the home kit evolution from 1901 to 2017 with 27 stickers.



Cielo Blanquiazul (Blu-white sky) is a memorial of the air tragedy on 7 December 1987, when all players and coaching staff died in an air crash after playing an away match of the league. 




Other two relevant figures have a section in this album: the promising Sandro Baylon, who died in a car accident at the age of 23, and the coach Rafael "Cholo" Castillo.


La Caldera is the name of the stadium Alejandro Villanueva inaugurated on 27 Dcember 1974. The stadium is celebrated with 7 stickers.


Campeonatos is a section that includes the stickers of the teams that won the 24 national titles for Alianza Lima.



Nuestras Figuras ("our figures) is the largest section of the album, with 106 stickers of the main players of the club history.




The album continues with a section dedicated to the supporters (La 12) and with some all time statistics of the club (Estadisticas).



The last part of the album celebrates the legendary player Carlos Alejandro Villanueva, the hymn of the club (3 stickers), and the sponsors (12 stickers).


The back cover of the album

Five extra stickers of this collection: the logo of the collection and 4 alternative stickers

Stickers of two famous Alianza's players: Farfan and Guerrero


Album details
Full name: Pelota de Trapo 1901 - Album de Oro
Publisher: Alianza Lima
Year: 2017
Club: Alianza Lima (Peru)
Sections: 
  • La Fundaciòn (7 stickers)
  • Nuestra Piel (27 stickers)
  • Cielo Blanquiazul (20 stickers)
  • El Eterno Sandro Baylon (3 stickers)
  • Rafael "Cholo" Castillo (3 stickers)
  • La Caldera (7 stickers)
  • Campeonatos (25 stickers)
  • Nuestras Figuras (106 stickers)
  • La 12 (9 stickers)
  • Estadisticas (2 stickers)
  • Carlos Alejandro (3 stickers)
  • Himno Alianza Lima (3 stickers)
  • Agradecimientos (12 stickers)
Extra stickers: 5 stickers

Total number of stickers: 227

giovedì 16 maggio 2019

Panini Campeonato Chileno 2018


For the season 2018, the format of the Chilean championship changed from the Apertura/Clausura system to a single tournament from February to December 2018. Universidad Catolica won their 13th title of Primera Division with 61 points. Universidad de Concepcion got the second place (58 points) and Universidad de Chile the third (57 points). The top goalscorer of the season is Esteban Paredes (Colo Colo) with 19 goals.
The Panini album of the league was released after the end of the first round, in August 2018. It is the 8th consecutive album of the Chilean league produced by Panini and it includes all the clubs of Primera Division (Campeonato Scotiabank) and Primera B. The first page of the album shows the calendar of the second round (from July to December) and the shining sticker of the Panini icon, whereas the second page is dedicated to the winners of the championship 2017 (Colo-Colo) and it includes a special sticker about their 32th title. Before the clubs are shown, there is a section with data and statistics about the first round of the season 2018. In this section we find 8 stickers of players in action. 






The 16 clubs of Primera Division are displaced on two pages with a total of 17 stickers: the team photo (two stickers), the club badge (shining sticker) and 14 players. Two of the player stickers have a special frame on the album: the "Supercrack" is the best performing player of the team and the "Sub 20" is the player under 20 with most minutes in the first round. 










The section of Primera B starts with the calendar of the second round 2018 and the celebratory sticker of the winners 2017 (Union la Calera). For each club there are 8 stickers: the shiny badge, the team photo and 12 players from 6 stickers (two players per sticker). 






Three known faces of the Primera Division 2018: Lucas Barrios (ex Borussia Dortmund), Mauricio Pinilla (7 seasons in Serie A) and Diego Buonanotte (ex River, Malaga and Granada)

Three stickers of "Sub 20" players: Nicolas Guerra (9/1/1999, 24 appearances and 4 goals in 2018), Benjamin Berrios (9/3/1998, 9 appearances with Colo Colo in 2018) and Victor Retamal (6/3/1998, 23 appearances and 1 goal in 2018).


The fabulous club badge stickers of this album

Album details
Full name: Campeonato Scotiabank 2018
Publisher: Panini
Release: August 2018
League: Chile (Primera Division and Primera B)
Season: 2018
Number of clubs and stickers:
  • Primera Division (16 clubs, 17 stickers)
  • Primera B (16 clubs, 8 stickers)
Other sections:
  • Introduction (1 sticker)
  • Champions Primera Division 2017 (1 sticker)
  • Data first round 2018 (8 stickers)
  • Champions Primera B 2017 (1 sticker)
Total number of stickers: 411



lunedì 13 maggio 2019

Merlin's Premier League 2019


Manchester City won the premier league title after a long and exciting battle against Liverpool. However, the official sticker collection of the league is not at the level of its contenders. The last Merlin's album of the Premier League before the Panini comeback expected in 2020 is a too thin collection for the richest league in the world, including only 10 player stickers per club and a total of 310 stickers with no extra stickers (limited editions or updates). However,  there are some good features, like the shining stickers for badges and star players and the well-designed club pages.
As usual the album opens with the contents, a foreword (this year signed by Aguero) and two big size stickers: the trophy and the logo of the Premier League 2018/19.


Each club is displaced over two pages with a total of 14 stickers of regular size: the shining badge, the team photo (two stickers), the star player in action (shining), and 10 players of the squad.






In the center of the album there are two special sections. "Derbies" explores the biggest derbies in the Premier League with 8 big size stickers of players in action. Among them Gerrard (Liverpool), Rooney (Manchester United) and Balotelli (Manchester City). "Kits" shows the 40 home and away kits from the season 2018/19 with 20 big size stickers. 










The fancy club badge stickers of Merlin's PL 2018/19

Sticker of two great scorers of the league: Aguero and Kane

Star player stickers : Salah, Vardy and Hazard

Album details
Full name: Merlin's Premier League 2019
Publisher: Topps
Release: December 2018
League: English Premier League
Season: 2018/2019
Number of clubs: 20
Stickers per club: 14
Other sections:
  • Introduction (2 big size stickers)
  • Derbies (8 big size stickers)
  • Kits (20 big size stickers)
Checklist: click here

Total number of stickers: 310