Revealed: The Wales World Cup stickers fans will be collecting
Ahead of the PaninI World Cup sticker collection launching today (August 25), some collectors have been given an exclusive first look.
And for the Red Wall the latest album from the legendary sticker manufacturer will be the most eagerly awaited of any generation of Wales football fan.
The last time Wales were at a football World Cup in 1958, there were no sticker albums, but now we’re just days away from long suffering Welsh fans getting their hands on a Panini World Cup album that finally features their own country.
Images of the new album and sticker boxes were leaked through Panini fan groups on Facebook several weeks ago. Meanwhile, one lucky UK YouTuber was given an album and a box of 100 stickers to open ahead of launch day.
Watch that video here…
Being the dedicated Wales football obsessives that we are here at Nation Cymru, we spent a little time with a finger firmly on the pause button to bring you images of all the Wales stickers that were revealed in the unboxing.
And that includes everybody from Gareth Bale and Chris Gunter to Kieffer Moore and Neco Williams in glorious sticker form. Plus a beautiful Wales shiny that may cause you to cry sweet tears of joy.
You can see images of those stickers in our gallery here…
The 2022 Panini World Cup album continues a long tradition of collectibles centred around the world’s biggest football tournament.
Appearing for every World Cup since 1970, the sticker set normally produces a frenzy of collecting and trading to complete the album.
As usual, fans will find 2022 Panini World Cup stickers for each of the 32 teams taking part in the tournament. This marks the final World Cup with just 32 teams, as 2026 is slated to increase to 48 teams.
Ironically, despite Wales having qualified for the World Cup for the first time in 64 years, Cymru has actually previously appeared in a Panini World Cup album – Argentina 1978.
Then they were a number of teams featured that didn’t qualify. The stickers featured a Wales shiny badge, as well as Terry Yorath, Joey Jones, John Toshack and Leighton James.
Of course, Wales appearing in a standalone sticker album for Euro 2016 and the resulting tournament album was a landmark moment for fans. However, the global reach of the Panini World Cup 2022 album will propel the nation to hitherto uncharted heights.
According to Greg Lansdowne – Panini sticker expert and the author of Panini Football Stickers: The Official Celebration: A Nostalgic Journey Through the World of Panini and Stuck on You: The Rise & Fall… & Rise of Panini Stickers, Wales have truly arrived on the global stage.
“Welsh football fans will have grown up with Panini football stickers from the late 1970s onwards – the famous collections of which will be the classic ‘Football 78’ to ‘Football 93’ (covering English and Scottish leagues); Euro and World Cup albums,” he said.
“While the Welsh Euro debut in 2016 – and the resultant Wales Panini Euro debut as a qualified nation – was special to many, a first Panini World Cup sticker album appearance, as a qualifier (Wales did appear in 1978 as an ‘Excluded Nation’) is a cut above.
“Now Gareth Bale, Aaron Ramsey and Dan James will be swapped as World Cup stickers from South America to Africa, North America to Asia and Europe to Australasia.
“Wales have truly hit the Panini big time!”
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Great to see! Sadly, revealing my age, I remember the 78 stickers as it was my first album. Good luck Wales!