The man with 2.5 million stickers
Meet the man with 4,017 albums – Euro 2020 is just the latest
THE STICKERS KING
For many people a major tournament means one thing: time for a new Panini album. But Gianni Bellini doesn’t just collect football stickers every other summer – he’s now got 2.5 million of them.
Based near Bologna in northern Italy, Bellini is accustomed to couriers ringing his doorbell. On the day FFT phones him, three books have arrived, from Russia, Cyprus and Guatemala. Yesterday it was South Korea and Israel – the day before, one rocked up from Colombia. The 57- year- old retired print worker is the world’s most prolific football stickers accumulator.
“When I was young, waiting for the postman was exciting - I chased him!” chuckles Bellini. “Now I’m more professional, but I still worry when the courier is a bit late.”
After all, Bellini has an archive to maintain – he owns 4,000 football albums from every corner of the world. “It’s 4,017 and counting, including the three today,” he reveals. That’s around 2.5m stickers.
“I started collecting football stickers when I was a kid, just like any other youngster. Then I found that Panini used to publish volumes from the Belgian league and many others all over Europe. I became crazy with excitement as I watched European matches on television. I also fell in love with Ipswich when they won the 1981 UEFA Cup Final against AZ Alkmaar, with Paul Mariner, John Wark, Frans Thijssen, Arnold Muhren and Alan Brazil.
“I got a job, got married and my collection grew day by day. When I discovered that by placing announcements in football magazines I could make contacts from South America to Africa, things went mad – I’d spend five to six hours a day organising my stickers.”
Bellini owns every single World Cup album and never misses new issues for national and regional championships, from Australia and Brazil to Egypt and Thailand. “The oldest book I bought was published in 1934, but it’s not the most treasured,” he says. “I have a sealed first edition of Panini Mexico 70 worth more than € 25,000 and other rare releases – unofficial or withdrawn versions, which are very valuable.
“The real collector buys, he never sells. Every year I hold exhibitions in Italy, but my aim is to open a museum. I pay € 3,000 to € 5,000 a year on things I’m missing. I’ve never kept count of what I’ve spent, but I could easily have bought a couple of holiday homes instead – one by the seaside, the other at a mountain resort!”
One wonders if his wife Giovanna is so happy about having albums in every room. “I’m very lucky she understands and supports me, even if it means having the complete history of the game spread over our house,” he says.
The collection will continue over the next few weeks, as he joins the rest of the continent in the hunt for Euro 2020 stickers. Has anyone got a spare Lukas Hradecky?