Hobby became his obsession, resulting in world’s biggest collection
– Newspapers recalling decades of sporting glory line the walls, cupboards overflow with stickers of footballing legends and on a desk, pristine packets lie tantalisingly waiting to be opened: welcome to the home of Gianni Bellini, the man with a claim to the biggest football sticker album collection in the world.
Bellini boasts 4 000 complete albums filled with some two million stickers and another 400 000 yet to stick in.
“Every day after I’ve finished work and picked up my grandson from school, I spend four to six hours working on them,” Bellini says.
The 54-year-old typographer lives in the small town of San Felice sul Panaro, 30km from Modena – the heartland of renowned sticker maker Panini.
He began his collection at age 13, before taking a small break a few years later, “more interested in girls” than stickers, he admits.
But soon after getting married at 19, Bellini picked up where he left off, and published ads in newspapers around the world looking for fellow collectors to exchange albums with.
“I received 600 to 700 letters a month, it was the start of correspondences and friendships, many of which I still have today,” he laughs.
And his wife Giovanna, who is also a football fan, doesn’t mind her husband’s diehard hobby.
“I support him and I’m happy too. That way he’s always at home, where I can keep an eye on him, he doesn’t go to the bar,” she jokes.
Every day, Bellini checks for new products online and keeps up with his some 300 contacts.
His entire collection is also archived on his computer.
“It’s an amazing feeling to finally have the album in your hands,” says Bellini as he opens a fresh packet from Mexico.
“But once that emotion is over, you’re already thinking about the next album.”
Bellini spends some €4 000 to €5 000 a year on his albums.
Nothing is for sale because “the real collector buys, exchanges, but does not sell”, he says.
Bellini’s most prized album is that of the 1970 World Cup in Mexico: “Panini’s first international album,” he says proudly.
On the other hand, the thought of an 1986 Egyptian album still makes him shudder: it got lost when he sent it to be translated and he only found another copy 20 years later.
The Panini factory in Modena has become almost a second home for him as he buys their albums and stickers direct.
Although the Italian publisher represents only around half of his collection – there are other manufacturers, such as Topps which holds the rights to the Champions League – Bellini insists Panini is “the best”. – AFP