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The official scrapbook for the EM 2024
Photo: Miriam Schmidt/dpa
The new scrapbook with adhesive pictures for the 2024 European Football Championship from Panini successor Topps is causing confusion. Anyone holding the recently available sticker album will look in vain for stars such as Germany's national goalkeeper Manuel Neuer or France's striker Kylian Mbappé. Instead, there are some football legends there - and nations that don't even qualify.
"This is because the tournament's former sticker partner blocked certain parts of the collection to the detriment of the fans," a spokesman for the American company told the German Press Agency. So Topps does not own the image rights to photos of individual players and coats of arms. When asked by the dpa, its predecessor Panini initially did not want to comment on licensing issues.
The Italian company Panini had published the scrapbooks for the European Championships at previous tournaments; according to the European football association Uefa, the partnership had been running since 1980. Uefa concluded a contract with Topps for the 2024 and 2028 European Championships.
On the double page for the German team there is space for, among other things, the pictures of three legends. These include former national goalkeeper Oliver Kahn and world champions Lothar Matthäus and Bastian Schweinsteiger. Hopeful Florian Wirtz, who scored the fastest goal in German international history, is missing from the scrapbook. Mario Götze, for example, is pictured for this purpose. The 2014 World Cup final scorer played his last international match just over a year ago. It is believed "that the range of stickers and cards - and the selection of current and former players - will get everyone excited about the tournament," said the Topps spokesman.
Fans also expressed surprise on the Internet that, in addition to the 24 qualified teams, teams that are not at the European Championships are also shown. The magazine came onto the market shortly after the European Championship playoffs concluded at the end of March.
mlb/dpa