EDICOLA NEWS: THE REVIEWS nr. 148
album: MATCH ATTAX 2021 (Topps)
cards: 574 starter pack: binder + 1 LE packet + 2 standard packets € 6.99
multipack: 5 packets + 1 limited packet € 5.99
tin box: Goal Scorers, Wildcards, Icons, Matchwinners € 11.99 each standard envelope: € 1.00 (6 cards)
Always challenging to complete Topps’ Match Attax album, this year even more space is given to the teams in the Europa League. Just as Fifa365 is mainly a collection linked to the clubs of the most important nations. Of the 29 present we have 7 Italian, 6 English, 3 Spanish, 4 German. The collection is closed by 7 clubs from other countries, well done having included the two Glasgow teams (Celtic and Rangers), note of color the presence of Istanbul Basaksehir. Not exactly the best known Turkish team ..
This is the formula of the Italian edition, certainly some foreign ones have different settings and there are certainly no 7 representatives of the “Bel Paese”.
Not all clubs have the same number of cards, on average between 16 and 18 but then down to 10 or 12 until 5 (.. sigh ..) of the Turkish team. The teams are not update (for example we find Candreva still at Inter).
The quality is good, it does not differ much from what has already been seen in recent years, even the setting seems quite similar to us. A separate mention for the badges, really beautiful, at least that of Marseille, the only one we have found at the moment.
The top point (but also the flaw) is the multitude of extra cards. To complete the collection you have to make a lot of purchases.
The specials, which are found in the standard packets, bear the classic names (Man of the Match, Hat Trick Heroes, 100 Club, Rising Stars, Star Players). For the others don’t loose the various release:
. starter pack (12 cards SS Superstar)
. tin box Golden Goalscorers (15 cards GG)
. tin box WIld Cards (15 cards WC)
. tin box International Icons (15 cards II)
. tin box Match Winners (15 cards MW)
For the limited editions (although even the above in some way are ..) this is the plan of the 31 already announced:
. starter pack (1G Firmino)
. upcoming mini tin box (2G 2S 2B Messi)
. multi-pack (3G 3S 3B Rashford)
. upcoming collector pack (7B Lewandowski)
. tin box Golden Goal Scorers (4G Neymar)
. tin box Wild Cards (5G Joao Felix)
. tin box International Icons (6G Hazard)
. tin box Match Winners (7G Lewandowski)
. on the Topps.com website, 19 of the 31 total (1S 1B Firmino, 4S 4B Neymar, 5S 5B Joao Felix, 6S 6B Hazard, 7S Lewandowski, 8G 8S 8B Mbappe, 9G 9S 9B Haaland, 10G 10S 10B Kante, 11 Werner)
An important detail is the total lack of Italian football, except for the basic cards, no specials; seems that Panini (holder of the rights) has not given the concession for these extra items. From here we could explain why Italian teams have 17 images instead of 18.
Not so bad if you only collect Italian football or thematic of a single club, you just need to look for them all in the basic packets. Huge savings!
For a collection of almost 600 cards Topps continues to provide an absolutely unsuitable binder. As a result, people buy the Panini binder by Adrenalyn also for the Topps collection. It is time for Topps to make the leap in quality on this front too.
Another aspect is the approximation in detail. The check list on the binder is different with the small guide attached to the starter pack, the teams are not in the same order, in one after the Italians there are the English, in the other the Spanish. We refer to the one in the binder.
Of course it is a collection strongly influenced by the Anglo-Saxon world, being us old and more traditional it does not make us jump for joy. Make way for young people and have fun with the new Match Attax 🙂
(EN)