FIFA Ends Panini Partnership, Awards Rights to Fanatics Post-2030

FIFA announced on Thursday that it will end its longstanding partnership with Panini after the 2030 World Cup, awarding exclusive rights for collectibles such as stickers, trading cards and trading card games to Fanatics and its subsidiary Topps starting in 2031.

The collaboration with Panini, which began ahead of the 1970 World Cup in Mexico and spanned every tournament except 1994, will conclude after more than 60 years. Panini produced popular sticker albums and cards that became a tradition for fans worldwide, including for the 2026 tournament with its expanded 48-team format and the 2027 Women's World Cup.

FIFA President Gianni Infantino described the shift as a step toward innovation. "Across the sports landscape, we see that Fanatics are driving massive innovation in collectibles that provides fans with a new, meaningful way to engage with their favourite teams and with their favourite players," Infantino said. "So, from FIFA's point of view, we can globalise 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."