Panini America Introduces Official 2010 FIFA World Cup Stickers and Sticker Albums in Advance of USA vs. England Opening Match

ARLINGTON, Texas, June 11 /PRNewswire/ -- As excitement builds with the start of the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa and in advance of the U.S. National team's opening match against England on June 12, Panini America (www.paniniamerica.net) has launched its marketing efforts to introduce the official 2010 FIFA World Cup Sticker collection for the first time in the United States at major U.S. retailers and online at www.eurosport.com. Panini's role as the official licensed trading card and sticker collections manufacturer for the FIFA World Cup dates back to the 1970 FIFA World Cup in Mexico and will be sold globally in over 100 countries in 2010.  Released in May, the Panini World Cup sticker and card collections are already well on the way to becoming the World's biggest collectable program.  With over 250 million packets of stickers and cards put into circulation initially and production running at around 20 million packets a day the scale of the operation will dwarf anything previously witnessed within the industry.

(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20100611/NE19804 )

(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20100611/NE19804 )

The official 2010 FIFA World Cup Sticker Album features stickers of the 10 stadiums the World Cup matches will be played in South Africa and all 32 teams competing in this year's World Cup including Mexico, Spain, England, Brazil, the United States and defending Champion, Italy. Some of the highlights include:

• Each team features 17 players.
• USA team features soccer stars Landon Donovan, Clint Dempsey, DaMarcus Beasley and Tim Howard
• England team features Wayne Rooney and global soccer icon David Beckham, marking what could be the last time David Beckham will appear in a World Cup album as member of the England team  
• Brazil team features global soccer star Ronaldinho
• Argentina team features FIFA world Player of the year Messi

After establishing a presence in the U.S. last year, Panini will undertake a concerted distribution and marketing effort in the U.S. under Panini America to promote the FIFA World Cup Sticker/Sticker Album which shattered global sales records during the 2006 FIFA World Cup.  Panini expects to continue that success and capitalize on the excitement of this year's Tournament and the high expectations for the U.S. National Team.

"Every four years the world gathers for one of the world's most exciting sporting events, the FIFA World Cup.  For forty years Panini has been a part of that excitement, creating memories for parents and new joy for children as they collect and support their national teams with the official FIFA World Cup Sticker Collection.  The FIFA World Cup sticker collection sells more packets globally than any other collectable, and we are very pleased to bring this excitement to the U.S.," said Mark Warsop, CEO Panini America, Inc.

As part of the marketing effort, Panini will distribute more than 1.75 million free FIFA World Cup Sticker Album Starter Packs across the country.  The efforts will also include a presence at select MLS soccer games and youth clinics, newspaper insertions in leading Hispanic media including impreMedia and UniVision, the soccer catalog EuroSport and other grassroots sampling.

SOURCE Panini America