Almost three months before the World Cup, Panini album is already in the shops: that’s how much it will cost to fill the 638 boxes | World Cup football

At Panini, they seem to be getting earlier every World Cup. Although the opening match between Qatar and Ecuador will only be called in 80 days, the well-known sticker album – which itself costs 2.5 euros – is already in stores worldwide. Immediately the 14th edition since the Italian company poured the Mexico World Cup in sticker form for the first time in 1970. The fact that it is far from certain which Red Devils will ultimately be chosen by national coach Martinez – just as it is not the case with the 31 other participating countries – does not seem to be a problem. More than ever this album is big business. After the previous 2018 World Cup in Russia, the collecting craze resulted in an annual turnover of 1.4 billion euros, double that of 2017. And the sticker company now hopes to repeat that.