A month and a half before the 2026 World Cup in Canada, Mexico and the United States (June 11-July 19), Panini has officially launched its album for the tournament. For this North American edition extended to 48 teams, the Italian publisher launched a record collection of 980 vignettes. The cover of seven stickers costs 1.50 euros and the album 3.50 euros. All teams have 18 players. Hugo Ekitiké, forfeited for the World Cup, has his image but the players not selected will be replaced at the beginning of June. Nearly 120 new stickers will in fact be published.
The Modena-based company based itself on the groups of last fall’s national selections. The 42 teams directly qualified for the 2026 World Cup were already ready in December, after the draw carried out by Fifa on December 5. The creation process takes several months and Panini satisfies early collectors, who can begin their collages a month and a half before the tournament.
In the Panini album of the 98 World Cup, several players from the world champion French team were absent, starting with two leaders of the Blues, Bixente Lizarazu and Emmanuel Petit. The left back, who already played for Bayern, missed five matches in a row with the Blues before his return in April 1998, a month before the list.
Lizarazu and Petit return at the last minute
Petit himself was not sure of competing in the World Cup in France since he experienced a journey through the desert from 1994! His good season at Arsenal gave him a comeback, first as a left-back in March against Russia, then as a starter in the match against Belgium on May 27, two weeks before the first match against South Africa in Marseille (3-0).
Only 16 players had their sticker in the 98 album. Bernard Lama, Lionel Charbonnier, Frank Leboeuf, Patrick Vieira, Alain Boghossian, Bernard Diomède and Christophe Dugarry do not have their France 98 sticker, unlike Florian Maurice, who disappeared from the selection by joining PSG, as well as Ibrahim Ba and Lionel Letizi, who were among the six players excluded by Aimé Jacquet just before the Global.
