Since 1970, when Italian collectibles company Panini launched its first official World Cup sticker collection in Mexico, the brand has focused on churning out collectible sticker albums for each subsequent World Cup. In Colombia, the tradition has deep roots.
“I believe that [in Colombia], there is a very deep-rooted culture of collecting. People collect toy cars, dolls, and jerseys; therefore, the Panini football album is no exception,” sports journalist Diego Chiriví told The Bogotá Post.
Although the global fever began in the ‘70s, it was during the 1980s and, especially, during the 1990 World Cup, that the ritual became a national phenomenon in the country.
“We are one of the top five countries in the world for sticker sales. For us, Panini is a tradition—a legacy we share from generation to generation with every World Cup,” Luis Felipe Gallego, Commercial Vice President at Continente (Panini’s official distributor in Colombia), told The Bogotá Post.
Initially, completing the album was an activity reserved for specialized football fans. However, over the decades, this hobby has expanded its reach, becoming a massive social phenomenon that now captures the country’s attention.
This shift solidified in 2014, when the collection moved from being a niche hobby to a popular tradition.
“In 2014, the Colombian National Team united the entire country. The team represented hope, reaching the quarter-finals for the first time in history. When they returned, over a million people welcomed them in Bogotá. It was the most unforgettable team of this generation, and since then, the ‘fever’ for the Panini album has only grown,” said Chiriví.
Read more from 2014: Panini Madness Strikes
Indeed, this passion has moved from private collections to the streets, becoming a social ritual where ‘cambiatones‘, or sticker swaps, take center stage.
These massive gatherings in parks and shopping malls have turned the hobby into a collective mission, where people of all ages trade ‘monas‘ (stickers) to complete their albums.
“It’s a family tradition—grandparents, uncles, parents, everyone is involved,” explained Elie Milhem, Panini’s CEO in Colombia. “People love seeing which players will make it to the World Cup, and that passion has made us one of the top ten countries for Panini sales in the world.”
The “repetidas” (duplicates) are what make the hobby exciting. Even though every sticker is printed in the same quantity, the random packs make some feel impossible to find. This struggle is what pushes people to meet and trade, turning the album into a competitive race to see who can finish first.
This year, the challenge is bigger than ever. For the first time in World Cup history, 48 teams will participate, meaning the album now features 112 pages and 980 stickers. This massive scale makes completing the collection an even more difficult mission for fans.
The stickers also come in four different versions: gold, silver, bronze, and the common ones. The gold, silver, and bronze versions are considered real treasures because they are much harder to find. Getting one of these in a pack feels like winning a prize, and they are often the most valuable pieces to trade during the ‘cambiatones.’
“I would say the Lionel Messi sticker, in any of its years, but especially the 2018 Russia version, was incredibly tough to find,” Chiriví shared. “In 2022, it was much easier, but because of what happened four years prior, the 2018 Messi sticker became almost impossible.”
Surely, Colombians will be on the hunt this year as their national team kicks off soccer’s biggest tournament facing Uzbekistan on June 17.
The post Panini album fever begins in Colombia ahead of World Cup appeared first on The Bogotá Post.
At least 66 people were killed after a Colombian military transport aircraft crashed shortly after take-off in the country’s southwest on Monday, authorities said, in one of the deadliest air disasters involving the armed forces in recent years.
The aircraft, a C-130 Hercules, went down at around 9:50 a.m. local time near the municipality of Puerto Leguízamo, in a remote jungle region close to the borders with Peru and Ecuador.
According to Colombia’s Defence Ministry, 128 people were on board the aircraft, including 11 crew members from the Colombian Aerospace Force, 115 members of the army and two police officers.
By late Monday, officials confirmed 66 fatalities: six from the air force, 58 from the army and two from the police. Rescue teams managed to evacuate 57 survivors, many of whom sustained injuries. Eight were transferred to hospitals in Florencia, while 49 were flown to Bogotá, where 19 are being treated at the Military Hospital and others for less serious injuries at a military medical facility.
Authorities said one soldier survived unharmed, while four others remained missing as search operations continued in dense jungle terrain.
The aircraft, identified as FAC 1016, had taken off from Puerto Leguízamo en route to Puerto Asís, roughly 200 kilometres away, when it lost altitude and crashed within minutes of departure.
Military officials said the plane went down about two kilometres from the airport in a rural area. Witnesses reported a fireball upon impact, followed by secondary explosions.
Defence Minister Pedro Sánchez said the situation was worsened by the detonation of ammunition being transported by troops on board.
“As a consequence of the fire, part of the ammunition carried by the personnel exploded,” Sánchez said, complicating rescue and recovery efforts.
Emergency crews faced significant challenges accessing the crash site due to the remote Amazonian terrain, while the condition of many bodies has made identification difficult.
No signs of attack
Military authorities said there is no evidence so far that the crash was caused by an attack.
“At this time, there is no information or indication that this was the result of an attack by any illegal armed group,” said General Hugo López, who added that a full investigation is underway.
The region where the aircraft crashed is known for the presence of dissident factions of the former FARC guerrilla group, which operate in areas with extensive coca cultivation used for cocaine production. However, officials stressed that current evidence points away from sabotage.
Questions over aircraft condition
The crash has triggered a political debate over the condition of Colombia’s military fleet, just weeks ahead of the country’s presidential elections.
The aircraft involved was a C-130H Hercules, an older variant of the widely used military transport plane originally introduced in the 1960s by Lockheed Martin.
According to available data, the aircraft had been in service since the early 1980s and was transferred to Colombia by the United States in 2020.
President Gustavo Petro suggested the plane represented outdated equipment acquired by a previous administration.
“In 2020, scrap was purchased,” Petro said on social media, referring to the government of former president Iván Duque. He added that his administration had sought to modernize military equipment but faced bureaucratic obstacles.
Opposition figures, however, argued that budget cuts under Petro’s government have affected maintenance and operational readiness within the armed forces.
In a message posted online, Petro expressed condolences to the families of the victims and praised residents of Putumayo who rushed to assist survivors.
“This is how a nation is built,” he wrote, thanking locals who reached the crash site on foot and by motorcycle to provide water and aid.
Authorities said the investigation will examine technical, mechanical and operational factors, including maintenance records and flight data, as Colombia seeks answers to a tragedy that has shaken the country’s military and reignited debate over defence policy.
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