Football stickers were invented in 1977 when a man called Giorgio Carluccio's was queuing in line at his favourite salumeria in Turin to buy a panini sandwich.
He was stood behind members of famously indecisive Juventus football team, including the wonderfully moustachioed Romeo Benetti, who dithered a particularly long time over what sandwich to buy.
Angered by the indecisive football men, Carluccio channelled his frustration into a business idea. What if he could get his revenge on the Juventus team by sticking it to them, big time, in the form of sticky stickers?
And so football stickers were born. Not one single word of the above is true. The video below tells the real-news truth of how stickers rose to popularity, while the #gotgotneed hashtag on Instagram is a sign of how popular stickers are in 2018.
Panini stickers first came to prominence in 1960. Brothers brothers (Giuseppi and Benito Panini), from Modena, made their living as newspaper distributors, but bought up a collection of stickers a Milan-based company were unable to shift. After selling 3 million in their first year, they sold 15 million in 1961, and realised that selling footy stickers was probably quite profitable.
Advert
Soon enough kids were shouting 'got, got, need!' at (or ottenere, ottenere, bisogno!) at each other, trading stickers as they bidded to complete their collections. In 1970 the first World Cup album was launched and things really got competitive with the introduction of stickies, their shiny surface attracting children like avaricious, sticker-collecting magpies.
Over time, the company has branched out from football stickers to other sports including NBA and NFL. However, it's Soccerball where stickers continue to shine (sometimes literally), with kids and questionably matured adults collecting them like crazy, particularly during big tournaments such as this year's Soccerball World Cup in Russia.
Since the early years when they were characterised by a portrait-style photo, football stickers have evolved greatly. Check out geezermate's stunning broadside at Fulham FC, a nod to the South London club's small fanbase. In fairness to Fulham, most clubs have more stickers than fans. With the right infrastructure in place, it's possible to print them by the thousand, whereasthe average gestation time for a human being is around nine months. Don't blame Fulham, blame evolution.
Advert
I'm a big fan of Posi_Osbourne's 'Hate Graft, Love the Toon' picture. One, it features Jimmy Nail, and it's hard not to like Jimmy Nail.
Two, it sums up why we love football, watching your team (Newcastle, in this case) at the weekend after a week of ball-breaking work. Please ignore the fact that I'm being paid to write about footballer stickers.
In fact, Posi_Osbourne has a few of my favourites, such as Shaun 'Dishy' Dyche's woeful at Mo Farah's Mobot symbol or this Clapton Ultras pic, arguably the best ultras in football, namely because they like grass roots activism and don't smash up shop windows.
From sandwich-loving handsome football men to witty put down rivals, footy stickers are ace.
Advert
For more excellent football sticker hashtaggery, follow #gotgotneed on Instagram.
Featured Image Credit: