EDICOLA NEWS: THE REVIEWS nr. 218
album: FIFA365 2022 (Panini)
stickers: 419 (1-419)
starter pack: album + 5 packets 3,90€
box: 50 packets (5 stickers per packet) 0,80€ each
What a pleasant surprise! Last year, Fifa365 did not thrill us, far from it, so much so that we thought that this year it could also have been avoided. We are happy we were wrong, Panini makes Panini and sends an album of great value and quality to newsstands. In our 2021 chart a very strong candidate to be the album of the year in the sports category.
We start from a starting point, we often forget that we are talking about stickers and that therefore these must be the first protagonists. They must be beautiful, varied, special, original. Often it does not happen, this is not the case, the stickers are undoubtedly a great sight, we’ll be back at the end of the review.
First and long part of the album dedicated to big clubs. A choice that we appreciate, no introductory pages which, like last year, did not give the right rhythm, but immediately players, clubs and passion. Each team has 20 players and 5 special large stickers, logo, shirt, “designer” ball, star player and rising star. Beautiful graphics on the pages, no stickers of the stadium but a large photo that is dusting.
The choice of how to present the players is appreciable, reminiscent of the last European but with much better graphics, basic notions, not an invasion of information on the card that takes up space; role, date of birth and nationality are enough. Background with club and stadium colors.
Among the other stickers, the glitter logo is in relief, dominates the page and is at the opposite end of the photo of the stadium, they are the two cornerstones of the pages. Star Player and Rising Star owe a lot to the Adrenalyn collection, only they stand out even more in the figurine, at least we see it that way. Among the printed statistics, we like those where the various nationalities of the players are listed, the total number of trophies won, combining national and international competitions, is also interesting.
Could different choices be made on the teams present? In part perhaps yes, it is clear that Panini must aim for strong markets, but without wanting to take anything away from some countries, at least one Portuguese club would have been good. Then there is the old obsession of having a club from the American MLS and the Japanese J-League, sooner or later maybe we will have them.
Second part of the album equally significant, dedicated mainly to the FIFA world, with the news, not only the clubs, but the national teams. At this point, making it a must album even for those who buy those related only to World Cups, Europeans or Copa America. Also because here we have the best of international football: Argentina, Belgium, Brazil, England, France, Germany, Italy plus Qatar which will host the next World Cup. Opener of this sector are the posters of the World Cup from the first in Uruguay in 1930, although they are featured on so many albums, we can’t get enough of them.
Striped stickers are now a classic of recent years, just try to differentiate the product from the classic album of football players and international competitions. By the way, the special horizontal sticker where the player is represented both bust and in action is exciting, as was the case in the 1970s albums. So let us dream, is it the prelude to a sensational change of graphics in Calciatori 2022? It doesn’t happen .. but if it happens ..
To fill the album there are other interesting pages, the Club World Cup, reduced to one page, a good choice to give space to more and the last page with the other Fifa trophies. Too bad women’s football has disappeared, but the lack of international competitions pays off. Compared to previous years, fewer columns, so be it, in this way we have some players not repeated four or five times, with all due respect to those who (we are not among those) would like ten different stickers of Cristiano Ronaldo or Messi in each album. If we have to give a value to Panini it is the commitment to always change FIFA365, year after year, sometimes in an unfortunate way (see last year), sometimes hitting the goal like this year.
At the beginning we were talking about stickers, if FIFA365 is a testing ground for future projects in the main albums, then we have something to be excited and happy. It is not just a question of quality, but of variety, graphics and choices. A successful mix of classic images and novelties, referring to the Adrenalyn cards and proposing stickers that are already present in the Panini albums linked to the various national championships. In the photo above, especially the stickers of Harry Kane and Zlatan Ibrahimovic are really beautiful!
At the moment we only have news of a different edition for the Serbian market with the stickers, numbered B of Red Star and Partizan Belgrade.
(EN)