Collecting Panini stickers has been one of the most popular hobbies for Maltese football fans, of all ages, for many years with tens of thousands completing the albums of Calciatori, depicting players and teams in Italian football, or those of the European Championship and World Cup.
This year, local enthusiasts have the opportunity to put together a rare collection.
Panini Malta are comme-morating the 50th anniversary of its parent company in Italy by issuing the Andrenalyn XL Trading Card Game Malta 2011, with the cards featuring players from the BOV Premier League, the national squad and a taken representation from Division One.
“We are proud to be launching this collection of players’ cards from the MFA leagues,” Dominic Anastasi, head of Panini Malta, told a news conference at the Centenary Hall yesterday.
“This project was arduous and demanding but with the collaboration of Panini, the Malta FA and the Gozo FA, we are gathered here to offer this unique collection to local football fans.”
Anastasi, who has been selling Panini stickers for the past 40 years, said that this is not the first collection about Maltese football.
“In the past, several albums issued by Panini, such as Football Clubs and Euro Football, included the emblems of Maltese teams,” he said.
“In 2001, on the 30th anniversary of Panini Malta, we had issued a sticker collection featuring all teams from all the MFA leagues. Now, ten years on, we are hopeful that we can match or even better the success of that collection with the Andrenalyn XL Malta 2011.”
Anastasi thanked Louis Micallef and Joe Bajada, officials of the Malta FA and the GFA respectively, for their assistance and also praised the crucial work of renowned photographer Domenic Aquilina who took all the photos for this collection.
Chiara Chiantore, Panini Export Area Manager, said: “We at Panini Modena are delighted to be here for the launch of this initiative. For the past 50 years, our company has published football collections in Brazil, Scotland and the US along with the World Cup and the European Championship albums with great success. We are sure that this collection will be very popular among Maltese fans.”
For his part, MFA president Norman Darmanin Demajo paid tribute to Panini Malta for this project which should help to further increase the popularity of Maltese football.
“This is a fantastic initiative which will boost football in Malta,” the Malta Football Association head said.
“I’m sure that this collection will catch the imagination of several young players who dream of a successful football career in Malta and maybe to feature in a similar collection one day.”
The Andrenalyn XL Trading Game Malta 2011 is on sale from Dominic Anastasi Ltd in Merchants Street, Valletta, with the starting pack costing €7.50.