Only Good Stickers: 1997

martedì 16 settembre 2025

Panini Cesky Fotbal 1997

Cesky Fotbal 1997 is the first Panini album dedicated to Czech football. The year before, the Czech league already had its own sticker album, published by Corfix. With Cesky Fotbal 1997, Panini entered the market in collaboration with Corfix, starting a short but fascinating series that lasted three years (1997, 1998, and 1999).

The album opens with a three-page section on the Czech national team, with 21 stickers in total: the team photo composed by four stickers on the first page, the best players and the shiny federation badge on the second and third page.

The 1. Liga is represented with all 16 clubs in alphabetical order. Each team has 17 stickers over two pages: the team photo (two stickers), the shiny club badge, and 14 players. The 2. Liga is also included, with 16 clubs featured in a more compact layout of 8 stickers each (team photo, shiny club badge, and six players). In total, the album contains 421 stickers. Compact but comprehensive, it is a remarkable release thanks to the collaboration between Corfix and Panini and the inclusion of both the top two divisions alongside the national team.

Sparta Praha won the 1996/1997 league with 65 points, ahead of Slavia Praha. Horst Siegl (Sparta Praha) was the league’s top scorer with 19 goals.

Back cover of the album

The stickers of Karel Poborsky and Pavel Nedved from the National Team section

The young Tomas Ujfalusi (19 years old), who played later for Hamburg (2000-2004), Fiorentina(2004-2008), Atletico Madrid (2008-2011), Galatasary (2011-2013) and the striker Horst Siegl, top scorer of the 1996/1997 First League with 19 goals

Album details:

Full name: Cesky Fotbal 1997

Publisher: Panini

League: Czech (1.Liga and 2.Liga)

Season: 1996/1997

Number of clubs and stickers per club:

1.Liga (16 clubs, 17 stickers)
2.Liga (16 clubs, 8 stickers)

Other sections:

Czech Republic National Team (21 stickers)

Checklist: click here

Total number of stickers: 421

martedì 11 febbraio 2025

Panini African All-Star

African All-Star is a Panini sticker album dedicated to Africa’s top football players, featuring a total of 240 stickers. Released in 1997, the collection is not tied to a specific competition but can be seen as a precursor to the 1998 African Cup of Nations. It follows a similar concept to the European All-Star album, which was released a year earlier.

The album cover features George Weah, one of Africa’s most iconic footballers of the time, who was playing for AC Milan. The album begins with a section showcasing the medals of honor from major African competitions before presenting the national teams in alphabetical order. Each team has a flag sticker and a varying number of player portrait stickers, with smaller teams like Benin and Rwanda having as few as two. The most well-represented nations in the album are Nigeria (38 stickers), Cameroon (24 stickers), and Ghana (22 stickers), reflecting their footballing prominence at the time.

The collection features several African football stars who gained international recognition in Europe, including François Omam-Biyik and Pierre Womé (Cameroon), George Weah (Liberia), Cyril Domoraud (Ivory Coast), Abédi Pelé and Tony Yeboah (Ghana), Jay-Jay Okocha, Taribo West, Tijani Babangida, Nwankwo Kanu, and Sunday Oliseh (Nigeria), Mustapha Hadji (Morocco), Mohammed Kallon (Sierra Leone), and Phil Masinga (South Africa).

This album remains a unique and nostalgic tribute to African football in the late 1990s, capturing the talents that shone both on the continent and in European leagues.