"With this summer's World Cup already mired in controversy over politicisation, potential travel bans and rows over ticket prices, fans were dealt another piece of sad news this week: the tournament's much-loved Panini sticker album will be discontinued after 2030."
"But the most desired, most sought-after, most prestigious Panini sticker the one that collectors considered worth its weight in gold was that of Italy's best player, perhaps the most iconic in the country's history: the Divine Ponytail, Roberto Baggio, who the previous year had won the Ballon d'Or."
"I found his sticker shortly before the World Cup began, on 17 June. My album was incomplete, with dozens of duplicates, and never did get finished. But who cared: I had Baggio! And his sticker was worth the price of the whole album, literally today it costs about 30 on eBay."
"At that time, in my small home town in Sicily, stickers were exchanged among friends or played for in games. One of the most popular games involved placing a small pile of stickers on the floor and then, with a sharp slap of the hand next to the pile, trying to win all the stickers that were flipped over. Obviously nobody would have risked using the Baggio sticker for that game; losing it would have been a catastrophe."
Panini’s much-loved World Cup sticker album will be discontinued after 2030. The news follows other World Cup controversies involving politicisation, travel bans, and ticket-price disputes. Memories of collecting stickers center on the 1994 World Cup in the US, when stars like Hristo Stoichkov, Romario, Bebeto, Gheorghe Hagi, and Diego Maradona appeared. The most prized sticker was Roberto Baggio’s, considered highly valuable by collectors. A Juventus fan recalls finding Baggio’s sticker just before the tournament began, keeping an incomplete album, and valuing the sticker as worth the entire album. Stickers were exchanged among friends and used in games, with the Baggio sticker treated as too precious to risk losing.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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