Queues of people in front of kiosks, trucks with supplies escorted by the police and such extortionate prices that the government is forced to intervene: In Argentina, the collecting fever for the coveted album with the World Cup participants has taken on extraordinary proportions.

Tjerk Bruhwiller

Correspondent for Latin America based in São Paulo.

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Argentina's pride in the national team, a desire to belong, and the fact that the World Cup in Qatar is likely to be Argentine superstar Lionel Messi's last, have boosted sales of the stickers in Argentina to the point where they are in short supply are.

On the days when the supplies arrive, the collectors wait for hours in front of the kiosks.

In order to avoid buying hamsters, kiosk operators limit sales to a few packages per person.

There are two or three packets for each.

After 200 buyers, the stock runs out again and the wait for the next delivery begins again.

Almost 90 percent inflation with great poverty

To complete the album you need some patience and a lot of money - in Argentina even a bit more.

Because the shortage has driven up the prices for the stickers.

In Argentina, collectors pay the highest prices in a Latin American comparison.

The purchasing power of Argentines, measured in dollars, is one of the lowest in the region.

The country is suffering from runaway inflation, which is expected to reach 90 percent this year.

40 percent of the population live in poverty.

But when it comes to football, many Argentines seem to know no pain threshold.

Young people report how they spend all their savings to cover up their album.

Adults put aside a little of their earnings every day to buy a few coveted packages again.

Many traders are using the exceptional demand to raise prices.

At the same time, a parallel market for the pictures has emerged, which is aligned with the black market exchange rate of the dollar.

Officially, each pack of stickers costs 150 pesos, which is equivalent to a dollar's worth at the official exchange rate (on average, the pack in Latin America costs around $0.80).

In practice, however, prices in Argentina are up to 300 pesos, the price of the dollar at the parallel rate.

Up to 600 pesos per package are even requested over the Internet.

The sticker with Messi is even traded on the Internet for up to 13 dollars.

Anyone who finds it in one of his packages sometimes bursts into tears of joy.

Department of Commerce is trying to find a solution

Even in downtown Buenos Aires, you can't escape the collecting mania.

There you will find money changers on every corner who change dollars at the parallel rate.

Now the same money changers also offer the equally coveted "Figuritas del Mundial", the World Cup pictures.

How valuable the stickers have become is also shown by the fact that roads are closed when the trucks with supplies leave the factory, escorted by police cars.

The shortage of stickers has now even become a matter of state.

Two weeks ago, the Ministry of Commerce took the initiative to find a solution with the stakeholders involved and sat down with the representative of the Italian company Panini in Argentina and representatives of the Association of Kiosk Operators.

Panini has committed to increasing its production in Argentina by 15 to 20 percent.

The kiosk operators undertook to control trade more closely in order to prevent excesses.

The kiosk operators accuse Panini of selling part of the production to intermediaries, who then offer the pictures on the Internet.

The problem of World Cup stickers began on August 21, Argentina's "Children's Day".

Punctual to the day, Panini released the album in Argentina.

It was predictable that it would be a hit.

Since then there has been an acute shortage.

Hardly any child in Argentina - and many adults just as little - can escape the collecting fever.

The renowned Argentinian sports sociologist Pablo Alabarces attributes the sticker problem in Argentina to a miscalculation by the manufacturers, who completely underestimated the demand.

The sporting expectations are very high in Argentina, said Alabarces in an interview.

The optimism about the World Cup contrasts with the general pessimism in the country.

Gathering is affective, it gives Argentines a sense of togetherness,