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competition. The 2022 U.S. edition
featured 670 stickers across 80 pages,
representing players from all 32
countries that competed in the event.

Panini America

Panini made its entry into the
U.S. in 2009 by purchasing the assets
of Donruss Corporation, a popular
sports trading card company from
Pennsylvania that had been around
since 1954. In addition to establishing
a position in the U.S. trading card
market with the acquisition of
Donruss, Panini was able to get the
exclusive in the NBA to produce The Football 78 red sticker packet cover for the UK depicted a
trading cards and signed Kobe Bryant bicycle-kicking footballer in front of a Union Jack background.
as a global brand ambassador. That design – only the colors would change – became
Kobe Bryant’s familiarity with the iconic over the next decade as it was repeated all the way
Panini brand goes back to when he through to Football 88.
was a kid growing up in Italy when There was enormous excitement generated by the release of
he himself collected Panini stickers. Kobe Bryant’s vision from 2009 Panini’s first UK domestic album, Football 78. With the starter pack
still influences the Panini brand and the company continues to honor again given away free with Shoot!, now there was the chance for collectors to
his legacy to both the sport and the Panini brand. find their favorites in English and Scottish football, providing they were in the
In 2016, Panini America signed a ten-year contract with the NFL English First and Second Divisions, or Scotland’s Premier Division.
for an incredible $300 million to become the dominant force in the
card business, coupling its massive global platform with exclusive
rights to those massive sports franchises and displacing Topps in a “Jon, you gotta understand that you have all your legends. You have
marketplace that had long been their domain. all your best players at a distance of, you know, your hand. You can
Today, Panini America has official licenses to distribute trading touch them, you can talk to them. It’s fantastic.” Furnari is proud to
cards for the NBA, NFL, WNBA, NASCAR, UFC, and other popular share that he’s completed every sticker album since 1974, including the
sports franchises, yet its exclusivity agreements with some of these fran- 2022 vintage, many times over.
chises are being challenged by competitors. Furnari points out that part of its appeal is that collecting Panini
stickers is an inter-generational hobby that can be enjoyed by sports
fans and collectors of all ages. Although Panini’s primary customers
were initially children, today the company estimates that roughly 40
percent of their collectors are adults.
Panini cards are also a favorite among the players they immortalize.
Gigi Buffon, who literally saved Italy during its run to the World Cup
trophy in 2006, is himself an avid, life-long Panini collector. Buffon
shared with Jon Wertheim in the 60 Minutes interview that the players
themselves swap stickers in the locker room. “I think if we were really
to investigate all the players in the locker room, I think 60 to 70 percent
filled the album.”
The Debut Edition of the 2021-22 When questioned why Panini stickers are so popular in a digital
Panini NBA G League Box Set contains a
180-card base set, 5 additional red paral- world, Furnari’s response is one all true collectors can understand.
lels, and 5 random autographs. Selling at Official 2020-21 NBA Sticker & “This sensation - to get a pack, to rip it out, to smell it, to open it, and
paniniamerica.net for $100. Card Collection to find the players right here, there is no way you can replicate it in an
electronic way.”
In 2021, apparel manufacturer Fanatics purchased the rights to
produce MLB, NBA, and NFL cards in a deliberate move to replace
Panini as the big guy on the block. To move into this space, Fanatics
purchased Topps, America’s oldest and most respected sports card
company. When Panini’s exclusive licenses expire in 2025, collectors
will be asked to choose between Panini Prizm cards and the beloved
Topps Chrome industry standard for football and basketball cards.
How this will shake out is only speculation at this point but the level of
investment being made by these card companies in the U.S. market is
proof that sports trading cards are as popular as ever here and around
the world.

Old School Trading

So what makes a little piece of paper with some adhesive on it so
special and worth collecting and saving for over a half-century? Jon Francesco Furnari is a Venezuelan son of Italians who grew up having “soccer fever.”
Wertheim of CBS’ 60 Minutes posed just that question to Francesco Since 1974, he has completed all of Panini’s World Cup albums and, like many
Furnari, the biggest official Panini distributor in the United States and fans, he is thrilled with every sheet he uncovers. “This feeling of opening an envelope
Panini sticker evangelist, back in August 2023 in an interview for and also being able to smell it – there is no way to replicate it in the digital age.
60 Minutes. This is beautiful,” says Furnari, exclusive distributor of Panini in the U.S.

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