giovedì 26 settembre 2024

Frauen Bundesliga 2023/2024

 

Frauen Bundesliga 2023/2024 is the first ever sticker collection dedicated to the women's Bundesliga. The collection produced by Panini features the 12 German clubs of the Bundesliga, including special stickers dedicated to the main stars and rookies of the league. 

The album was released also in a special hardcover edition limited to 3333 copies. It begins with the calendar of the season and an introductory page with the contents and four shiny stickers: the trophy and the logo of the Frauen Bundesliga, the top scorer (Alexandra Popp) and the winners (FC Bayern Munchen) of the previous season.

The 12 competing teams are introduced with the section "Logos and Teams", featuring three stickers per club: the shiny club badge and the team photo (composed by two stickers). After that, the teams are shown following the alphabetical order. For each team there are 19 stickers displaced over two pages with the portrait stickers of the players and the coach.

The last part of the album includes the special section "Stars and Rookies", with 24 shiny stickers of the best players and young prospects of the German Bundesliga, displaced over three pages. Bayern Munchen won the 2023/24 Frauen Bundesliga and Ewa Pajor (Wolfsburg) was the top goalscorer with 18 goals.


















Back cover of the album

Bundesliga strikers: Karczewska scored 10 goals in the 2023/24 Bundesliga, whereas Lea Schuller 11 goals


The regular and shiny stickers of the Danish star Pernille Harder

Ewa Pajor (top goalscorer of the 2023/24 Bundesliga with 18 goals) and Nicole Anyomi (11 goals)


Album details:
Full name: Frauen Bundesliga 2023/2024
Publisher: Panini
League: Women's German Bundesliga
Season: 2023/2024
Number of clubs: 12
Stickers per club: 19
Other sections:
  • Introduction (4 stickers)
  • Logos & Teams (36 stickers)
  • Stars & Rookies (24 stickers)
Hardcover album: Yes (limited edition, 3333 copies)
Updates/Extras: No
Checklist: click here

Total number of stickers: 292

lunedì 16 settembre 2024

Panini Grêmio 120 years (Brazil)



Grêmio is a Brazilian football club based in Porto Alegre founded in 1903. The main trophies won by the club in 120 years of history are the Intercontinental Cup in 1983, three Copa Libertadores (1983, 1995, 2017) and two Campeonato Brasileiro (1981, 1996).

Panini published in 2023 a sticker collection dedicated to Grêmio, to continue the series of sticker albums about the most iconic Brazilian clubs, started with Sao Paulo in 2012 and further improved with the Palmeiras album. The Grêmio sticker collection, available also in the hardcover version, is not at the level of the latest editions, which included 300 stickers with a large amount of fabric stickers, but it is, however, a well-made collection with 200 stickers with the best moments of the club, including also several shiny stickers.

In the following, we show the contents of the album section by section, with photos of all the pages of the album.

Introduction (2 stickers): This page includes the foreword and the first two shiny stickers of the album, with the logo to celebrate 120 years of Grêmio.


"Nasce o Imortal" (13 stickers) and "No Fortim da Baixada" (2 stickers): the first years of the club founded by businessman Candido Dias da Silva in 1903. Here we find also three shiny stickers, with the logos used until 1920 and until 1953, and the official flag. 


"Nascido Para ser Campeao" (19 stickers): the first title arrived with the Wanderpreis Cup won in 1904 (shiny sticker). This section includes also the shiny stickers of the jerseys used in 1921 and in 1928, together with the teams that won the titles from 1906 to 1946.


"Patronos do Grêmio" (4 stickers), "Lendas Tricolores" (3 stickers), "A Pioneira Coligay" (4 stickers)


"Galeria" (12 stickers)


"Com o Grêmio, Onde Estiver o Grêmio" (15 stickers): section dedicated to the supporters and the slogan created in 1946.


"No Olìmpico o Maior Estadio Particular do Brasil" (7 stickers) and "Olìmpico Monumnetal" (6 stickers): sections dedicated to the olympic stadium (1954) that became Monumental in 1980.


"Na Arena do Grêmio, o Novo Templo, o Grêmio Vanguardista" (14 stickers): the new stadium, Arena do Grêmio, inaugurated in December 2012.


"Linha do Tempo" (9 stickers): the trophies from the foundation (1903) to the recent times (Copa do Brasil in 2016)


Calçada da Fama (26 stickers): some of the most iconic players of the past, from Jardel to Renato.


"Na Batalha dos Aflitos" (2 stickers) and "Hexa do Gauchao" (7 stickers)


"Penta da Copa do Brasil" (10 stickers): section dedicated to the fifth Copa do Brasil won in 2016.


"No Tri da Libertadores" (10 stickers): The third success in the Copa Libertadores arrived in 2017, when Grêmio defeated Lanus in the final.


"Na Conquista do Mundial" (5 stickers): Grêmio is at the top of the world in 1983, when they won the Intercontinental Cup against Hamburger SV in Tokyo (2-1). Renato Gaucho scored two goals and he was named as man of the match.


"O Grêmio de 2023" (30 stickers): the squad for the 2023 season is shown here with 30 shiny player portrait stickers.



Back cover of the album

The caricature sticker of Augusto Koch, player from 1904 to 1906 and President of the club, and the action sticker of Everaldo (from 1962 to 1974), who won the 1970 World Cup with Brazil.

Jardel played for Grêmio in 1995-1996 when he scored 10 goals in 13 games, whereas Luis Suarez was part of the team in 2023 (17 goals in 33 caps)


Album details:
Full name: Até a Pé Nos Iremos - 120 años de Grêmio
Publisher: Panini
Country: Brazil
Year: 2023
Club: Grêmio
Hardcover album: Yes
Extra/updates: No

Total number of stickers: 200









 

giovedì 12 settembre 2024

Topps Euro 2024

 

The official sticker album of the Euro Cup 2024 was published by Topps, for the first time after they got the UEFA rights. Unfortunately this was not a positive event for sticker collectors, as Topps produced an almost embarassing sticker album, compared to the historical editions published by Panini. 

First of all, Topps had no rights for some of the main federations (Italy, England, France, Germany), therefore the player stickers of those teams show just the player face. Secondly, the sticker distribution in packets was awful, with rarity of SP stickers needed to complete the album and the presence of too many useless parallel stickers. Moreover, nonsense choices, like the sticker of Zinedine Zidane as French captain. In addition, the terrible customer service made this album complicated and a nightmare to complete, as the individual sticker service was open for only couple of weeks with many issues. Finally, many players that took part in the tournament are not included (just to say one name: Mbappé!) and there are no updates for this album.

In this review we show the blue International edition, composed by a base set of 707 stickers and a hardcover album. There is also a red Swiss edition, with the same stickers, but just a red border instead of blue and no hardcover album.

The album begins with an introduction of four regular sticker: the Topps logo, the Euro 2020 logo, the official ball and the mascot of the tournament. Before showing the competing teams, there is also a section with the trophy (shiny stickers) and the ten stadium stickers made with childish drawings instead of real photos. 

The teams are then shown by group order. Each group is introduced by two pages with the map overview (two stickers) and the country landmark of each team (two stickers), followed by other two pages with the main players: the "Player to watch (PTW)" (shiny sticker), the "Star Player (SP)" (golden sticker) and the "Top XI" (two stickers). The teams that took part in the play-offs have just the regular star player sticker (two players on one sticker) without PTW and Top XI stickers. The star player stickers of the directly qualified teams can be found with or without signature, with random distribution in packets.

The 21 teams that were directly qualified to the group stage have 21 stickers over two pages: the shiny badge, the shiny captain, the "artist" player in action (shiny), and 18 players. The play-off teams have just eight stickers on one page: the shiny badge, and seven stickers of players (two players on one sticker, for a total of 14 players included).

In the center of the album there is a "Dream Team" section of two pages where it is possible to stick spare stickers of the favourite players. In those pages there is also a sticker composed by the mascot of the tournament (half sticker) and the signature of the Topps official manager, José Mourinho (half sticker). The last section of the album features the stickers of ten Euro legends: Torres, Bale, Rooney (shiny), Nedved, Shevchenko, Seedorf, Figo, Zidane (shiny), Beckenbauer (shiny), and Ibrahimovic.


























Back cover of the album

The different parallel stickers that can be found in sticker packets

Musiala and Gakpo, top scorers of the tournament (3 goals) together with Kane, Mikautadze, Schranz and Dani Olmo.

Euro 2024 superstars: Lamine Yamal (PTW sticker) and Jude Bellingham (autographed SP sticker)

Yamal and Bellingham regular stickers

Shiny captain stickers: Cristiano Ronaldo and Kevin de Bruyne

Ibrahimovic and Shevchenko stickers from the Legends section

Album details:
Full name: UEFA Euro 2024 Germany
Publisher: Topps
Tournament: Euro 2024
Edition: Blue (International)
Hardcover album: Yes
Number of teams: 33
Stickers per team:
  • 21 directly qualified (25 stickers)
  • 12 play-off teams (8.5 stickers)
Other sections:
  • Introduction (4 stickers)
  • Host of the Euro 2024 (11 stickers)
  • Group introductions (54 stickers)
  • Legends (10 stickers)
  • Dream Team (1 sticker)
Extra: Parallel stickers
Updates: No
Checklist: click here

Total number of stickers (album): 707