In one of the more monumental shifts in the collectibles world, FIFA and Fanatics have inked a long-term, exclusive licensing deal that will allow Topps \u2014 owned by Fanatics \u2014 to produce soccer cards, stickers and trading card games for the World Cup and other FIFA events starting in 2031. This will end FIFA and Panini\u2019s long-standing partnership in the space.<\/p>\n
Panini will have served as the key licensee for FIFA World Cup cards and sticker books<\/a> for nearly 60 years, starting in 1970 and running through the 2030 tournament, with the exception of the 1994 event.<\/p>\n \u201cWith Fanatics, we see that they are driving massive innovation in sports collectibles that does provide fans with a new, meaningful way to engage with their favorite teams and with their favorite players,\u201d FIFA president Gianni Infantino told The Athletic in a statement. \u201cSo, from FIFA\u2019s point of view, we can globalize that fan engagement precisely thanks to our global tournament portfolio. And this provides another important commercial revenue stream that we channel back, as always, into the game, into football.\u201d<\/p>\n Fanatics will give away more than $150 million in collectibles to kids globally across the lifetime of the partnership as part of the contract with FIFA.<\/p>\n Fanatics CEO Michael Rubin said this deal is about growing the company\u2019s reach beyond the U.S.<\/p>\n \u201cOur collectibles business this year is probably 85 percent in the U.S. So as we think about how to expand globally, which is how we turn this into a much bigger business, there\u2019s nothing more important than FIFA,\u201d Rubin told The Athletic. \u201cSo for us, we\u2019re thinking about global (growth). Our big growth initiative and partnering with FIFA to do the World Cup, there\u2019s no bigger event in the world than the World Cup every four years.\u201d<\/p>\n Rubin added: \u201cWe think long term, global football should be our biggest business. Our job is to make sure that we keep raising the bar and innovating in a way that nobody else can do.\u201d<\/p>\n One such innovation will come in the form of Topps introducing its Debut Patch<\/a> autographed cards within World Cup related sets, as well as other patch card insert sets building off the success of the award winner gold league logo patch cards for individual award winners in the NFL, NBA and MLB. A player would wear a Debut Patch on their jersey during their first World Cup match with that patch then being removed, authenticated and placed within a trading card signed by the player. Infantino said match-used patch programs will begin as early as this year\u2019s World Cup, even though the licensing deal doesn\u2019t start for several years.<\/p>\n \u201cFor the previous three years (before Fanatics could use the license), the NFL put debut patches on rookies when they played their first game and then they saved those relics until the rights kicked in,\u201d Rubin said. \u201cI think we do that across every sport. There\u2019s a multi-year cycle when you launch together. \u2026 We did the NFL, the NBA and MLB and they were all basically five years in advance. So I think this is the right time to announce it and start to build the initiatives.\u201d<\/p>\n