It's FIFA World Cup Panini time, and while it has nothing to do with the Italian sandwich, its origins do begin in Italy, and the popular album book is bringing soccer fans together again.
People gather at a shopping center to exchange collectible stickers for the 2026 FIFA World Cup soccer album in Bogota, Colombia, May 28. The 56-year-old World Cup tradition is bringing Utah soccer fans together once again.
Collectors buy stickers through Panini packs or specially packaged Coca-Cola bottles. SALT LAKE CITY — It is FIFA World Cup Panini time, and while it has nothing to do with the Italian sandwich, its origins do begin in Italy. The Panini FIFA World Cup Sticker album is a tradition that has existed among soccer fans for decades, beginning in 1961 for the Italian league. It took off worldwide in 1970 at the tournament hosted by Mexico.
Panini, the Italian-based company, began selling albums where fans could collect stickers of players and teams from every participating nation. The 1970 tournament did not just bring the Panini sticker to life; it was also the first World Cup to be broadcast globally, the first played outside of Europe and South America, the first to use red and yellow cards, substitutions and the first to heavily commercialize the tournament, according to ESPN.
People gather at a shopping center to exchange collectible stickers for the 2026 FIFA World Cup soccer album in Bogota, Colombia, May 28. The popular sticker album has been a worldwide tradition since 1970. Much like trading cards for MLB and NFL fans, Panini sticker albums are the ultimate World Cup collectors item. Collectors typically buy stickers through authorized Panini packs.
New this year, fans can also get stickers by purchasing specially packaged World Cup Coca-Cola bottles, the company announced on social media. The 2026 collection is bigger and better than ever. It marks the first year of the expanded 48-team tournament lineup, meaning it will take more time — and money — to complete the set.
Soccer fans gather to trade Panini World Cup sticker albums and trading cards at the Bicentenario de La Florida stadium in Santiago, Chile, May 31. The popular sticker album has been a worldwide tradition since 1970. For some enthusiasts like Joaquin Ortega, an Argentinian native attending Ensign College, the expanded tournament is no obstacle. Ortega said he already completed 62% of his album after only working on it for two weeks.
He searched high and low, store after store before finally finding boxes of 25 packs at DC Sports Cards and Collectibles, each pack containing seven stickers. Since then, he has found other stores that have restocked the stickers, but noted he has to go right when they restock, otherwise they will be gone before the day is done. Ortega's most prized stickers are two Lionel Messi stickers.
When asked if he will trade either one for a missing player in his collection, Ortega's tone turned serious. Ensign College freshman Arthur Da Silva, who is studying cyber security, kicks a soccer ball to score a goal while Spencer Garcia, who is studying software engineering, watches with other attendees during a FIFA World Cup kick-off party held at the college in Salt Lake City on Thursday.
Some of the students at the school are also involved in collecting Panini World Cup stickers. Ortega began collecting Panini stickers when he was 6 years old during the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. While he misses the environment back at home during the tournament, Ortega has planned several watch parties with friends in the U.S. He acknowledged the soccer culture is different here but said he respects it.
Since he was a little boy, his family and friends have gathered together to watch the matches, an aspect of the World Cup Ortega misses most. He is confident he will finish the 2026 album, noting he already has plenty of duplicates to trade and plans to buy more if necessary. A complete 2026 collection requires exactly 980 stickers across all 48 competing teams.
Because of the expansion, the collection is larger, more difficult and more expensive, according to Sports Illustrated. The set features global superstars like Messi, Lamine Yamal, Cristiano Ronaldo and more. It also includes 68 special-edition stickers, along with 12 exclusive stickers found only on Coca-Cola packaged bottles. There are roughly 20 stickers per team, which typically include 18 players, a team badge and sections for mascots or history.
The added stickers makes the 2026 season exciting for collectors, but it comes with a steep price tag. A softcover album costs $5, while a standard seven-sticker pack retails for around $2 in the U.S. — an increase from the five stickers included in previous editions. Attendees get food during a FIFA World Cup kick-off party held at Ensign College in Salt Lake City on Thursday.
Some of the students at the school are also involved in collecting Panini World Cup stickers. For beginners, the purchase of an album typically comes with a few starter packs. Those more committed to completing the set can buy bulk 25-pack or 50-pack boxes from Panini America for $50 and $100, respectively.
However, these bulk options do not offer a discounted rate per pack, Sports Illustrated reported. In an ideal scenario where a collector never receives a single duplicate, completing the 980-sticker set would require 140 packs for a total price of around $280 in the U.S. Realistically, duplicates are virtually unavoidable. Reuters estimated that collectors may actually need to buy more than 1,000 packs to finish the album on their own.
If a collector relies solely on buying packs, the total price tag could near $2,000 before factoring in the Coca-Cola exclusives. That is where trading comes in, helping collectors keep costs down. Trading events happen worldwide, both in person and online. For Delfi Heredia, a college student in Utah studying content creation, the albums are a family affair.
Heredia was raised in Murphy, Argentina, a small town just outside of Rosario — the same hometown as U.S. Men's National Team head coach Mauricio Pochettino. Heredia's family collects stickers every World Cup. They trade within the family first, and then invite friends and neighbors over to swap duplicates. Here in the U.S., Heredia has found community among fellow soccer fans and supporters of Real Salt Lake.
They go to games together and have already organized trading nights. Though Heredia does not have the actual album book yet, she already has her sticker collection started. Sticker packs and albums have been available at retailers like Target, CVS and Costco, but they will become harder to find as the tournament progresses. Heredia said this isn't a problem unique to the U.S., the packs are hard to find no matter where you look.
When asked who will win the 2026 World Cup, Heredia hopes for an Argentine victory but admits she is nervous about France standing in the way of her country taking home the coveted trophy. The Key Takeaways for this article were generated with the assistance of large language models and reviewed by our editorial team. The article, itself, is solely human-written. Your guide to Memorial Day food deals in 2026
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