From Iríbar to Bellingham. 50 years of football history

Fans of football and collecting are in luck. LEGENDS, The Home of Football presented by LALIGA, considered the largest and most unique football experience in the world, has two new spaces dedicated to the world of Panini football stickers. From May until early August, visitors will be able to enjoy an unprecedented exhibition celebrating more than five decades of the history of Spanish professional football.

This is a temporary exhibition that, thanks to the alliance of LALIGA and Panini, offers visitors an impressive collection of more than three hundred cards of iconic players who have left their mark on the history of Spanish professional football from the 1972-73 season to our days.

The Panini exhibition completes the immersive football experience at LEGENDS. This space of over four thousand square metres and seven floors in the heart of Puerta del Sol in Madrid displays around six hundred relics of the most important legends of the king of sports and also includes a 4D cinema and a rooftop where you will find the Gastro Sport LALIGA TWENTYNINE’S LEGENDS EXPERIENCE, a restaurant with a terrace.

From Iríbar to Lamine Yamal

From legendary figures such as José Ángel El Chopo Iríbar, the legendary Athletic Club goalkeeper and the first sticker in the first collection, to modern-day stars such as Antoine Griezmann, Jude Bellingham and Lamine Yamal. In short, LEGENDS presents an exciting journey through time for football fans and sticker lovers; all in a privileged space that also offers visitors an immersive experience in a 4D cinema or the chance to enjoy LALIGA TWENTYNINE’S LEGENDS EXPERIENCE, the unique gastronomic space on its rooftop.

The exhibition includes a selection of more than three hundred stickers and pays tribute to the history of football and the passion that Panini stickers have inspired in generations of fans (Photo: Panini)

According to Juan Pedro Martínez, editorial director of Panini Spain, “the idea of ​​this exhibition arose at the initiative of LALIGA. They proposed to us to make a contribution, so we were delighted to collaborate with something that is truly spectacular,” says Martínez.

“The first Panini collection was published in the 1972-73 season,” says Martínez. “In any case, the history of football stickers in Spain goes back much further, to other publishers such as Bruguera, which published football stickers in the 40s and 50s.” Since 1972, Colecciones Este / Panini has published football stickers uninterruptedly every year in Spain.

“We have made a selection of iconic players from over the years, from almost thirty Spanish clubs, so that fans of RC Celta, Real Betis, Real Madrid or FC Barcelona, ​​to name just a few teams, can see their icons when they go to LEGENDS,” highlights Martínez.

‘Megacracks’ y ‘Adrenalyn’

In addition to this main exhibition, visitors will have the opportunity to explore samples of the countless collections published by Panini, including the LALIGA trading card collections, under the ‘Megacracks’ and ‘Adrenalyn’ brands, and events such as the World Cup. men’s and women’s football or the European Nations Cup.

Visitors will have the opportunity to explore samples from the countless collections published by Panini (Photo: Panini)

“We have different types of products: adhesive cards; trading cards (‘Megacracks’) of complete teams, which are collectible and kept in a file; and trading card games or licenses (‘Adrenalyn’), which are collectible cards that also allow the incorporation of game factors such as scores on player characteristics,” explains the editorial director of Panini regarding this second exhibition.

“The Magic of Chrome”

Martínez, who in the 70s was “a child who collected those wonderful editions of sticker albums”, highlights today that the world of collecting in general, and that of football in particular, continues to enjoy very good health. “That key moment that we call ‘the magic of chrome’, opening the envelope with tension to see what is going to come out… that is the essence of everything. The world of chrome has that complicity of children with parents, which makes that phrase ‘to remember is to live again’ good when the child gets involved in a collection and the father accompanies him and enjoys it almost as much as he does,” he says.

The temporary LEGENDS exhibition is made possible by the alliance between LALIGA and Panini (Photo: Panini)

Sticker albums allow the collector to “preserve an entire season’s worth of memories in a single album.” As the head of Panini acknowledges, “when you open your album from 20 seasons ago and see your team, the players… it is something wonderful, an everlasting memory.” A symbiosis, that of stickers and football, which in the words of Martínez is possible thanks to the “excellent relationship between LALIGA and Panini; without them, all this would be impossible.”

Finally, the Panini manager, who declares himself a fan of RCD Espanyol in Barcelona, ​​denies this “small urban legend” according to which a smaller number of copies of the cards of the most sought-after players are produced. “Panini is very serious about this and always makes the same number of cards in each edition. Those that reach the end in the last editions, and even more so if they are from high-level players, are usually the most sought after. For me, as a parakeet “I was very excited to get Tommy N’Kono’s card in 1982. There is no other trick; the star of your team always seems to come out last because he is the most sought after,” says Martínez.

2024-07-01 05:06:09
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