23 Facts About Panini Group

Panini Group produces books, comics, magazines, stickers, trading cards and other items through its collectibles and publishing subsidiaries.

Panini Group maintains a Licensing Division to buy and resell licences and provide agency for individuals and newspapers seeking to purchase rights and comic licences.

Up until 2015, Panini Group produced stickers and trading cards for the UEFA Champions League.

Benito and Giuseppe Panini Group were operating a newspaper distribution office in Modena, Italy in 1960, when they found a collection of figurines that a Milan company was unable to sell.

Panini Group became well known in the 1960s for its football collections, which soon became popular with children.

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In 1970 Panini Group began publishing L'Almanacco Illustrato del Calcio Italiano, after purchasing the rights from publishing house Carcano.

Panini Group published its first FIFA World Cup trading cards and sticker album for the 1970 World Cup in Mexico, in addition to using multilingual captions and selling stickers outside of Italy for the first time.

In 1986 Panini Group created a museum of figurines which they donated to the city of Modena in 1992.

Panini Group begins assembling each World Cup squad for their sticker album a few months before they are officially announced by each nation, which means surprise call ups often do not feature in their album.

In May 2006, Panini Group partnered with The Coca-Cola Company and Tokenzone to produce the first virtual sticker album for the 2006 FIFA World Cup.

Panini Group developed an app for the 2018 World Cup where fans could collect and swap virtual stickers.

In 2010 Panini Group released a UEFA Champions League edition of Adrenalyn XL, containing 350 cards from 22 of the competing clubs, including defending champions FC Barcelona.

On 13 March 2009, Panini Group acquired the US trading card manufacturer Donruss Playoff LP.

In July 2010, Panini Group acquired a licence to create an official sticker collection for the Olympic and Paralympic Games in London 2012.

In 2014, Panini Group made cards for that year's FIFA World Cup, and did the same for the 2018 edition, albeit with price hikes for packets across the world.

Panini Group were distributors of the 2012 English dub of the 2011 Spanish television series Jelly Jamm.

Panini Group continued to operate out of Irving, Texas, with much of the existing upper management.

Panini Group signed an exclusive agreement with five-time NBA champion Kobe Bryant of the Los Angeles Lakers as its official company spokesman and global trading card ambassador in 2009.

Bryant's special affiliation to Panini Group goes back to his time growing up in Italy where he collected Italian football stickers.

In 2016, Panini Group America paid Cristiano Ronaldo $170,000 for signing 1,000 Panini Group stickers, while Neymar received $50,000 for signing 600.

Panini Group has exclusive partnerships with Pop Warner Little Scholars, Inc, the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, and Pro Football Hall of Fame.

In January 2021, Panini Group America signed an exclusive multi-year trading card deal with the Ultimate Fighting Championship.

Later in August 2021, Panini Group America partnered with the UFC to release NFTs, commemorating big fights, milestones and moments.