Soccer is a religion in Latin America, which is why, one month after start of the FIFA World Cupthe traditional Panini album also awakens the faith of fans who see the most precious jewels in the decals when they meet their idol.
In Colombia, this traditional album began to circulate in 1982 and, just four years later, in Mexico 1986, Vicente Najar began to sell and exchange the World Cup album figures. With Qatar 2022, will complete 10 world championships marketing it.
Vicente Najar explained to the voice of america that the business idea arose when, in the 1980s, they exchanged “love” cards in the center of the Colombian capital.
“It all started with love letters, back then it was a person’s form of expression towards women, or towards men, the letters were put together and sold,” he says.
The memory of the first sales and how his business arose, for him, translates into four decades dedicated to this passion, which at the time of the World Cup, awakens the memory of his first sales while serving football fans and collectors who pass by asking about the new and old figurines.
“That is collected in many albums, what happens is that it also depends on the moment, because one can collect many albums, but the point is to get them out, there are times like now, where all the people want to buy,” he says.
‘El Pibe’ Valderrama, Oliver Kahn, Juan Román Riquelme, Ronaldinho, Roberto Carlos, Cafú, David Beckham, Cuauhtémoc Blanco, Alex Aguinaga and others in the form of stickers, are part of a collection of figurines that he recently sold for $1,600 to a collector who would travel to the United States.
“A man came and saw the stickers, I didn’t think I needed too many, and he told me: ‘how much is that box worth’, I replied that 10 million Colombian pesos (equivalent to 2,300 dollars), but he offered me 7 million Colombian pesos (about $1,600) and sold them to him.”
Vicente says that 10 worldwide sales and collecting all the albums seem little to him and that he hopes to do so for many more years. Its purpose is that the collections of the World Cups of Germany 2006, Brazil 2014, Russia 2018 that it keeps in its possession, and that of Qatar 2022, which it has already completed, reach a high valuation and that is why it keeps them in a special envelope so that they do not they deteriorate.
“Four World Cups still await me. What I like most about my job is serving people, making people feel happy,” she says.
Panini is an Italian company, which was associated since the 1970 World Cup in Mexico with the International Federation of Associated Football (FIFA), to market the World Cup album. From that World Cup to today. the company has dedicated itself to offering a unique experience to fans, sellers and collectors like Vicente, who begin a whole ritual in the prelude and development of the great soccer tournament to complete it.
Connect with the Voice of America! Subscribe to our channel Youtube and turn on notifications, or follow us on social media: Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
