Topps Champions 2019

The official sticker collection of the UEFA Champions League 2018/2019 was released by Topps with an album including 595 stickers and a special poster with 16 stickers available only in Italy. The collection has very similar layout and graphics of the previous editions, starting from the division of the teams by country and not following the group stage, due to the early release of the album.

The collection begins with an introductory page including the contents and two shiny stickers: the Champions League logo and trophy. Then the 32 clubs are shown starting with the 26 clubs directly qualified to the group stage. For these clubs there are 19 stickers over two pages: the club badge (shiny), the home/away shirt (shiny), the captain (shiny), the star player in action (big shiny sticker), and 15 stickers of players. The last six clubs from the play-offs were added in a second time and they have only 16 stickers on one page: the badge (shiny), the home/away shirt (shiny) and 14 players. At the end of the album there are three short sections including one sticker each: the road to the final in Madrid. the Youth League 2018 and the Women's Champions League 2018.

The special exclusive poster released in Italy includes 16 players of the four qualified Italian teams: Juventus, Napoli, Roma, and Inter. Those stickers were released in four batches with an Italian newspaper.

Back cover of the album

The poster with 16 extra stickers released for the Italian market

Lionel Messi (Barcelona) and Mohamed Salah (Liverpool)

The shiny club badge stickers of the finalists, Tottenham vs. Liverpool

The shiny home/away shirt of Tottenham and Liverpool

Top strikers Mbappé and Lewandowski

Ronaldo's regular sticker and poster sticker

Album details

Full name: UEFA Champions League 2018/19

Publisher: Topps

Release: September 2018

Competition: UEFA Champions League

Season: 2018/2019

Number of clubs: 32

Stickers per club: 19 or 16

Other sections:

• Introduction (2 stickers)
• The Road to Madrid (1 sticker)
• UEFA Youth League (1 sticker)
• UEFA Women's Champions League (1 sticker)

Extra: Poster - Special Exclusive (16 stickers)

Hardcover album: No

Checklist: click here

Total number of stickers: 595 + poster

Panini UCI World Championship 2021

 

The UCI Cycling World Championship celebrated the 100 years anniversary with the 2021 edition in Leuven (Belgium). For this occasion, Panini released the first ever album for this competition. The collection was available only in Belgium, a land of cycling and stickers. The album is structured to show one after the others all the world champions (men and women) from the first edition in 2021 to the last in 2020. For each winner there is a sticker with the flag of the country, the number of victories and the date of birth. On the album there is also a brief paragraph describing career and anecdotes of each rider. For the greatest winners (two or more times) there are two stickers composing a larger photo.

The album includes some of the major cyclists of all time: Eddy Merckx, Felice Gimondi, Fausto Coppi, Jeannie Longo, Lance Armstrong, and the most recent Peter Sagan and Julien Alaphilippe. In the last part of the album there are three more sections. "Vélo" describes the bike evolution since its invention with six stickers on two pages. "Parcours" goes over the 2021 edition in Leuven with 11 stickers of places, maps, and roads. The last section focuses on the UCI World Cycling Centre, a project to stimulate the development in cycling all over the world. 

It is a compact, but effective collection, a sort of encyclopedia of the Cycling World Championships. With the small number of stickers (a total of 155) it possible to complete it pretty fast. Moreover, there is a hardcover edition that makes it more attractive.

The hardcover album

The first World Champion, the Swedish Gunnar Skold, and Felice Gimondi, who won in 1973

The legendary Fausto Coppi won only once in Lugano 1953, whereas Gianni Bugno twice (1991, 1992)

Mario Cipollini won in 2002 and Annemike van Vleuten in 2019

Album details:

Full name: 2021 UCI Road World Championship

Release: July 2021

Country: Belgium

Sport: Cycling

Competition: UCI Road World Championship

Sections:

• World Champions 1921-2020 (134 stickers)
• Vélo (6 stickers)
• Parcours (11 stickers)
• UCI World Cycling Centre (4 stickers)

Hardcover: Yes

Updates: No

Total number of stickers: 155

Panini Pro League 2019

Football 2018-2019 is the official sticker collection of the Belgian football. It includes both the Pro League and the First Division A with a total of 472 stickers. There is not an update set for this collection, but 8 extra stickers were released with the winners of the golden boot 2018. These stickers have a specific section in the album (numbered from 345 to 352).

The collection starts directly with the Pro League teams, without introductory stickers. For each club there are 21 stickers over two pages: the club badge (shiny), the team photo (two stickers), the coach, and 17 players. After the Pro League clubs there is a two-page section about the Golden Boot (Gouden Schoen in Flemish or Soulier d'Or in French). On the first page there are 8 stickers of previous winners (among them Boskamp, Kompany and Witsel) and on the second page the winners 2018, including the sticker of Eden Hazard.

The album continues with the First Division A. For each club there are 11 stickers on one page: the shiny badge, the team photo and nine stickers of players (two players per sticker). The album concludes with two historical sections about Belgian football. The first one shows the great moments of Belgian football with 16 celebratory stickers of historical achievements, whereas the second section is about the recent talents made in Belgium, with 8 stickers composing a giant photo of the National Team and 8 stickers of Belgian talents from previous Panini Football collections: Courtois, Lukaku, Kompany, Witsel, De Bruyne, Meunier, Tielemans, and Chadli.

Genk won the Jupiler League 2018/2019 at the end of the championship play-offs, counting on decisive players like Mahele, Malinovskyi (13 goals) and the striker Samatta (23 goals). Harbaoui (Zulte Waregem) was the top goal scorer of the league with 26 goals. This collection includes other interesting young prospects like Saelemaekers, Vanheusden and Jonathan David. The Nigerian striker Victor Osimhen, who scored 16 goals for Charleroi, was however not included in this collection.

Back cover of the album

album and complete set Football 2019

There are five different versions of the packets

Alexis Saelemaekers moved to AC Milan in January 2020, whereas Zinho Vanheusden was on loan from Inter

Mahele and Malinovskyi are both playing for Atalanta since 2020/21

Jonathan David (rookie sticker) signed for Lille in 2021, whereas Sofyan Amrabat moved to the Serie A (Verona, Fiorentina) at the end of the season  

Album details:

Full name: Football 2018-2019

Publisher: Panini

Release: December 2018

League: Belgian (Pro League, Division 2)

Number of clubs and stickers per club:

• Pro League (16 clubs, 21 stickers)
• First Division A (8 clubs, 11 stickers)

Other sections:

• Gouden Schoen (8 stickers)
• Winners 2018 (8 stickers)
• Great moments Belgian football (16 stickers)
• Throwback talents - made in Belgium (16 stickers)

Update: No

Extra release: Winners 2018 (stickers from 345 to 352)

Checklist: click here

Total number of stickers: 472