England football players including Phil Foden and John Stones are among those reportedly missing from the official Euro 2024 sticker album.
Topps, the American trading card company, won the rights in 2022 to take over from Panini as Uefa’s exclusive sticker partner for the tournament in Germany.
While Topps holds the overall rights, Panini retains aspects of rights relating to some teams, the Times reported, meaning five of the teams, including England, can be shown in their kit only by Panini.
In addition, Panini holds the rights to individual players meaning Topps has been forced to fill out squads with other players. For England, Luke Thomas features, who has never been selected.
Panini, which has supplied sticker albums for every Euros tournament since 1977, is still producing its own album. It features England, Spain, Germany, France and Italy and has 387 sticker slots compared with 728 in the Topps album.
The host of Blazey Collects, a YouTube trading card channel, told the Times: “Both manufacturers have dropped the ball on this one, which is really disappointing. This should be the most exciting time of the year for collecting. You’ve got your albums, you’re excited to get it complete.”
Five Panini stickers cost 90p, meaning that filling the whole album would cost £70, provided there were no duplicates, while Topps sticker packets come in at £1 for 6, making the equivalent figure £122.
Topps, which was acquired by the memorabilia firm Fanatics for almost $500m (£382m) in 2022, criticised Panini in its response.
“While 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,” a Fanatics spokesperson said.
“Unlike the former sticker partner, we are committed to the fans and believe the offering of stickers and cards – and range of current and former players – will get everyone excited for the tournament.”
The Guardian has contacted Panini Group for comment.
In the US, Fanatics and Panini are locked in a legal battle after the latter filed a complaint to the federal courts system alleging Fanatics had been engaging in anti-competitive conduct and violating the main antitrust laws in the US.
Among the alleged conduct in Panini’s legal complaint are the acquisition of Topps, as well as Fanatics’ acquisition of allegedly unprecedented long-term exclusive licensing deals with top professional leagues and players associations, such as the NBA, MLB, and NFL Players Association.
