The boy looked up from his album and asked: ‘Did you collect stickers when you were young?’
‘Naw,’ I replied. ‘When I was young, shiny football stickers were but a glint in the eye of a pair of Italian brothers. My generation had to content ourselves peering through the smoke of our caves to perceive the rudimentary images of hunters at play scrawled on the walls.’
There are days when I feel particularly old. This was one of them. I was at a function at the Scottish Football Museum, not as an exhibit, but as a witness to the launch of the Panini Fifa World Cup 2026 sticker collection.
I talked to nine-year-old boys, 40-year-old fathers, mothers whose age I could not possibly ask for, bloggers, vloggers, YouTubers, colleagues and a couple of former international football players. They held Panini stickers in the sort of veneration and affection that is normally reserved for icons in Russian cathedrals.
My erstwhile belief that Panini was merely a fancy toastie thus bordered on the heretical. My views changed, though, on contact with adhesive photies. A series of conversations revealed The Truth.
Panini sticker albums are as popular as ever ahead of the World Cup 2026
A young supporter poses in front of the Scotland players’ Panini stickers
The Panini sticker is merely a representation of the glory of football. Its eternal stickiness binds together generations, even those of us who have reached the three score and ten, plus time added on.
There are thus the simplistic facts about Panini and the more intangible theories about their attraction. The museum echoed to reminiscences from the older generation about that time they were three short of a full album for Euro 96 and to youngsters preparing for the Holy Grail of achieving the 2026 World Cup completed album.
It will cost a packet to buy the packets to do so. With 48 countries heading to the USA, this is the biggest World Cup sticker album since the concept started in 1970. I was then of an age that album meant Led Zeppelin, Abbey Road or Neil Young.
But back to the stickers. One packet of seven will cost £1.25. To fill the 112-page album, it will cost £175 for 140 packets. But this could only be achieved by not having a single duplicate among the separate packages. Statisticians (apparently they have them outside football analytics departments) estimate that it will take about 1000 packets to achieve a full album. This means £1250 or so for a perfect collection.
One such already exists. Panini put on a party at the museum and there was a wee quiz. It was won by a team that included Gabriel Hare, nine, there with his mum, Elena. Gabriel was no silent partner in the side’s success. He named every badge correctly in that part of the competition and was rewarded by receiving a full album.
Hugh MacDonald speaks to former Morton, Dundee and Blackpool player Jim McAlister
Gabriel, who is also heading to the World Cup with his father, is a veteran of collecting. ‘He loves these albums,’ said his mum.
This love was replicated throughout the museum. Jim McAlister has a more than decent football history and an exciting future. He played with Morton, Hamilton Academical, Dundee and Blackpool. He was kit man at Rangers and then went to Saudi Arabia with Steven Gerrard.
Now at the SFA, he is preparing to head to the USA. His family will join him. He will be working but his children are being rewarded for their stalwart support of the national team.
‘They have been at all the qualifiers so it seemed right they should go to the USA,’ he said.
James, aged six, appropriately dressed in replica kit, found the quiz eminently resistible but was entranced by the commotion surrounding the launch of the stickers.
His dad could also apprise him of the precise significance of two former players who chatted with an audience who had all the traits of children waiting for Christmas, no matter their age.
The footballers – Charlie Adam and Steven Fletcher – also spoke with this observer who had all the traits of Santa the day after Christmas and after a series of wearying industrial disputes with the elves.
Both managed to raise the spirits. Their Panini memories were personal but involved passing a love of the game down generations. Both have sons who are already football obsessives.
They are just realising what their dads have done in the game.
‘I was into Panini when I was younger,’ said Adam. ‘My son, Louis, now loves it. I like it as part of this reality that football passes down generations.’
Adam treated his nine-year-old to a special exhibition. ‘The other day I brought a lot of stuff out of the garage. There were cards and those small figures, one of myself. He was wearing my Scotland caps. It was a special moment. You look at it all and think: ‘’There was what all the hard was for, the special buzz he get out of seeing that stuff’’.’
Steven Fletcher and Charlie Adam promote the 2026 World Cup sticker album
The shirts alone form an impressive display. ‘Yes, there is a signed Messi and shirts from Ronaldinho, Lampard, Gerrard and Scholes,’ said Adam.
‘But there is stuff that brings back really strong memories – the championship medal and the Bells Cup medal from St Mirren and a youth cup medal when I was at Rangers. We started talking about them and it brings it all back.’
Adam, who won 26 caps for Scotland and played with distinction in the Scottish Premiership and the EPL, said: ‘I never normally sit down and think about what I did, but I did that day with Louis.’
Fletcher, who won 33 caps for his country and also starred north and south of the border, invoked his son when recalling his favourite memorabilia.
‘My two hat-trick balls when playing for Scotland would be top of the list,’ he said in reference to his feats against Gibraltar, home and away, in 2015.
‘Brody, my son, was just a toddler and he played with the hat-trick ball in the players’ lounge,’ he said of the goals at Hampden. ‘The signatures are a bit smudged but that brings back my memories of Brody as such a small child.’
Panini’s World Cup 2026 collection features players from all 48 teams
His memorabilia is kept at his mother’s house but he stores some in his memory.
‘My dad was a Scouser and we were season ticket holders at Anfield. I remember being a mascot and walking out with Paul Ince. Football is a funny business. I played golf with Paul a couple of months ago and I played alongside his son, Tom.’
In a further nod to the strangeness of football, Fletcher pointed out: ‘One of my favoured possessions is my runners-up medal for the Coupe de France final in 2016 against PSG,’ he said. ‘You don’t like losing but I was looking around the Stade de France and thinking: ‘’How did a boy from Hamilton get here?’’
He was in decent company. Benjamin Mendy and Lassana Diarra were Marseille team mates and PSG included Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Marquinhos, Thiago Silva, Angel Di Maria and Edson Cavani. All would be coveted stickers for any album.
But one question remains for the former internationals. Who would be the most sought-after Scotland player in the 2026 Panini stakes?
Both said their sons would opt for Scott McTominay but they would go for John McGinn. The generation gap still exists.
But this old dodderer is doing his best to bridge the chasm. I left Hampden with a Panini album and stickers. They are now in possession of my grand-daughter.
My religion is not Panini but I am praying for as few doublers as is humanly possible.
