- Topps have bulked out the England pages of their album with uncapped players
- Panini have blocked Topps from printing the likes of Phil Foden and Bukayo Saka
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Parents have hit out at a Euro 2024 sticker album ‘rip-off’ in which children are being asked to pay hundreds of pounds of pocket money to complete collections from which England stars are missing, with uncapped players included to fill out pages.
A dirty war between sticker companies has seen Panini – who have lost the deal to publish UEFA’s Euros album – block American-owned rival Topps from printing stickers of stars such as Phil Foden, Bukayo Saka, and John Stones in the official UEFA album.
But that has led Topps to bulk out the England pages of their own album with uncapped players like Leicester City full back Luke Thomas and Manchester City‘s Rico Lewis, who has just one cap.
The bizarre use of these players has been known about for weeks – but many parents and children are only now discovering that hundreds of stickers have no relevance to the tournament, which starts on June 14.
Christopher Abbott, who is collecting with his son Fionn, said: ‘It’s been disappointing and just an exercise in making you fork out for pointless stickers.
‘With the England players, you only get their heads – not the players in kit – but you’re being asked to collect some of them several times over, for a separate “captain”, “artist”, “player to watch” and “star player”.
‘You don’t realise that you’re being asked to collect players like Luke Thomas and Rico Lewis because they don’t print the names in the album, only on the stickers.’
Panini have also struck back at Topps by publishing their own album, featuring only England, France, Italy and Germany – with which they have tie-ups – plus Spain. Children are being asked to collect five stickers of each England player – including AC Milan’s Fikayo Tomori, who is not in the squad. Panini’s five-sticker packs are 90p.
Statisticians estimate it will cost £1,000 to fill both albums, factoring in the many doubles. Panini have even done a deal with M&S to make a third Euros album, which costs £3 and is food and lifestyle-related.
Mr Abbott said: ‘Fionn is only four so it’s a novelty for him but if he were a bit older, he’d want to collect the Panini album too – because they have proper England players. I can get away with it this time as he just wants to tear the packets open.
‘I’m finding so many additional Topps stickers which are pointless. There are no managers and no shiny sticker. It’s obviously a money-making exercise.’
Jean Fletcher, who is helping her eight-year-old, Eva, to collect, said that Eva only realised her favourite England players were missing when she’d bought dozens of Topps’ six-sticker packets, which cost £1.
‘It’s a rip-off,’ said Mrs Fletcher. ‘Eva’s ended up with dozens of players who won’t be at the Euros because there are pages for Luxembourg, Israel and other countries no one’s interested in. Her friend is collecting the Panini album which only has five countries in it.’
Industry insiders say players missing altogether from Topps’ albums have individual commercial deals with Panini.
Panini would not reveal to Mail Sport which stars they have deals with – and even blamed Topps for leaving England stars out. Panini said: ‘We have always acquired rights from a multitude of partners aimed at producing the best possible products for our collectors.’
Meanwhile, Topps say they are infuriated by Panini’s tactics. They told Mail Sport: ‘We are disappointed that a small number of players are missing. This is due to the tournament’s former sticker partner having blocked certain parts of the collection to the detriment of the fans.’
Industry insiders say the war between the firms could hit the Premier League’s album, which Topps have acquired the rights for from the 2025-26 season.