As Miami inches closer to hosting the World Cup quarter finals, some soccer fans are rushing to meet a goal of their own. They’re on the hunt for close to 1,000 official Panini stickers — emblazoned with soccer players or team crests — to complete their collection.
There’s no cash prize or ranking, just personal bragging rights. But a shared love of the game is enough to lure soccer fans back to the expensive hobby every four years, when the popular sport's iconic tournament takes place.
At a trading location in downtown Doral, jersey-clad fanatics had their stickers splayed on folding tables. Others sat on the floor or lined the walls, as people fired off a steady stream of numbers and countries, trying to find the missing piece for their sticker album.
The act of opening up the sticker album, it's like this unique sense of euphoria combined with nostalgia that you don't really get in too many places.Nico Kuzak
Juan Peza has been collecting stickers since 1994, when he was still living in Mexico. Back then, he was collecting a different brand of trading cards called Upper Deck. Now that he’s older, he has been collecting Panini stickers, and this World Cup is particularly special because now his eight-year-old son can get involved.
“ For example, me pulling the [stickers] that I did already from my 1994 pack and showing it to him and stuff, it's just amazing,” Peza said.
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Peza, who was wearing a matching green Mexico jersey with his wife and son, has seen the popularity for the pastime grow — culminating in pop-up stores like the one that was hosting the trading session.
Sticker Experience 305, in downtown Doral, was opened by local event planner Joel Vasquez and his business partners in the run-up to the World Cup. Within the first two hours of opening, Vasquez said over 1,000 people came through. Once an individual completes their album on site, they can ring a bell in celebration.
“There was a need for a place for people to trade cards for the World Cup. It's a tradition, and the nice thing about it is people mingling, people talking to each other,” he said.
While completing the album can't be done alone, the real magic is in trading.
Alex Rodriguez, 10, from Miami Lakes, came to a trading event with 5% left of his album to complete.
“I like that people can be united and be in these spaces, that everyone can be together and show a bit of their collection and just have fun in general,” he said.
Rodriguez plays soccer like his dad, who also passed down his love for collecting Panini stickers, a hobby that was not available to him in Cuba.
“He was born in a part of the world that there wasn't really that much — in that time, they didn't have that much money. He played baseball, soccer, a bit of boxing, but he stayed with soccer for his entire life because it's the one he most enjoyed,” Rodriguez said.
Collecting, sorting and trading Panini stickers has been a part of the World Cup fan experience since 1970 after four brothers in Modena, Italy, paid $1,000 to procure the rights to produce the images.
But every hobby comes with a cost.
The stickers are sold at local drug stores, such as CVS and Walgreens, or Costco. A packet of seven stickers is $2. A box of 50 packets is $100. Nico Kuzak told WLRN he had spent roughly $500 on stickers during this World Cup.
“Some people might think it's childish … or you're wasting money, but honestly, in the grand scheme of things, it's something that you always look back fondly on," the 31-year-old said.
"The act of opening up the sticker album, it's like this unique sense of euphoria combined with nostalgia that you don't really get in too many places, you know? Especially if you've been doing it for a while, you start feeling like a little kid again.”
When Kuzak was younger, his cousins in Argentina got him hooked on it.
Everyone has their own way of sorting, tracking and trading their stickers. Some people rely on apps to track their progress. Others still do it the traditional way with pen and paper. Kuzak made his own digital spreadsheet, and he’s diligent about keeping all of his past Panini albums since 2010. He hopes that one day, he can pass this tradition along to his kids.
“I think that's part of the reason why I've kept all the other ones [albums], just to show them like, ‘Hey, these are the ones that I've made when I was, like, younger,’ and we can make them together. I'll become [one of] those Walgreens parents that I saw with their kids trying to trade with them. Except I think my kids, if I'm lucky enough, will be as into it as I am," he said.
However, after the World Cup in 2030, a major change is coming to that tradition.
Panini announced that it will no longer be printing stickers in partnership with FIFA. Another brand called Topps — owned by sports merchandise giants Fanatics — will take over the rights to produce World Cup cards, stickers and other FIFA collectibles.
“There is something special about getting that double zero Panini logo on it, but as long as Fanatics or Topps does a good job with it, I don't think it'll change it too much. So I'll see how I feel in eight years,” Kuzak said.
For now, the process remains the same, at least for another World Cup. Ask anyone who trades: the tradition is priceless.
