As the World Cup rolls around again, so does the fever for the 2026 Fifa World Cup sticker album. The albums have an assortment of different countries from all around the world. This year, the teams range from Argentina, the 2022 World Cup Champions, to first-timers such as Uzbekistan, Cape Verde, Jordan, and Curaçao. The World Cup happens every four years and is hosted in a different country. This year it is being held in North America, or more specifically Canada, Mexico, and the USA. The 2026 World Cup starts on June 11 and ends on July 19. World Cup sticker albums are made by Panini, and are filled with a multitude of different colored pages that correspond to a singular team. Although, this year the sicker album has been different from the past. This album now showcases 48 teams rather than the usual 32. It also has dedicated pages for sponsors such as Coca-Cola. People buy blind sticker packs with the hope that they will find all of the stickers that they are missing. Each sticker pack comes with 7 cards, either soccer players, team logos/emblems, or World Cup slogans or mascots.
“I think it’s very exciting and something everyone can talk about. Everyone is collecting Fifa cards and trading with friends” said eighth grader Sebastion Niño.
Where people get stickers (trading, Coca Colas bottles, duplicates and missing stickers)
Many people get their cards from places such as CVS, Target, Walgreens, and even online. Lately it has been very hard for collectors to buy stickers because they have been out of stock everywhere. This has led to many people trading duplicates with one another, and people reselling their stickers. Since collectors still want to get in on the action, they have been buying Coca Cola bottles with the stickers inside. As part of a brand advertising effort, Fifa partnered with Coca Cola to spread the news. With this, Panini also decided to join in and put their player stickers in the inside of the labels of each bottle.
“I have been getting good cards, and my favorite thing about them is that I get to put them in the album and keep them as a memory. I have not gotten any duplicates and I do love to trade them. I got them from CVS and from my grandma in Colombia,” said eighth grader Safi Amin.
Every World Cup there are always special songs and anthems, there are official soundtracks that help unite World Cup fans world wide. These songs are played on TV broadcasts, opening ceremonies, and closing ceremonies. They are generally multilingual which reflects on the different cultures and countries participating.This year’s official songs are “Lighter” by Jelly Roll and Carín León and “Dai Dai” by Shikira and Burna Boy which is this year’s anthem.
“I like the Jelly Roll song and it’s really good. I like the lyrics and how it hypes me up and makes me very excited for the world cup. I can’t wait, the song is the only reason I’m watching the World Cup” said eighth grader Julio Zaldivar.
