A few weeks before students start to debate whether to study or sit back, open a bottle of beer, relax and watch their favourite national team play, Panini Group issues its traditional album stickers.
The first album published was for the 1970 World Cup, which was held in Mexico. They feature stickers of each national team’s player and information on them, such as the team they play for. It also includes stadiums, mascots and each national team badges. This year’s album contains 680 stickers, 50 of which are printed on a shiny and metallic material. New characteristics of this year’s album comprise of highlighting the team’s top player and a double page spread for all teams of the six groups.
It is a custom in Malta to trade stickers with each other. Some take it to school and swap during break time whilst older people swap outside Anastasi’s shop in Valletta (the agent of Panini Group) on a busy Saturday morning. Social media has also become a platform for swapping. There is a Facebook page where people post their missing stickers and other comment with their availabilities.
Over the years the price of these albums has continuously been increasing. In Malta, the lowest price of one box (100 packets of 5 stickers each) is that of €65 (€0.14 per sticker). Is it due to the increase in quality or are businessmen being greedy? Those young children of the 1970s who are now adults still collect these albums to date. Some sell it for a high price, others keep the collection as prestige. It is doubtful whether new collectors will be interested in putting together this album if prices continue to rise. For this year’s album, it is said that one requires almost a box and a half to assemble it. This is due to the fact that a box contains 500 stickers and this year’s album has 680 stickers to collect. There is already a shortage of 180 stickers, neglecting any duplicates one might have. This may discourage people to pay that hefty price and try to collect it.
