If you are one of those collectors biting nails, waiting for the Euro 2016 and the new Panini album, I have great news for you! Panini has decided to release a sticker collection dedicated to Euro 2016 Qualification. Just few days after the roll-out of Copa America 2015, manufacturer began to distribute Official Road To Euro 2016 France sticker album.

Exclusive first look at album cover page, stickers design and packets.

Just to clarify one thing right away. Road To Euro 2016 features teams that play in qualifications for the UEFA Euro 2016 European Cup which will be held in France. That is why its called Road to, emphasizing the long ride and efforts teams have to go through in order to participate in the final tournament.

The RTWC 2016 France features stickers of 24 most-reputable European national squads. This is not the first time that Panini Group issues this type of albums. Two years ago they produced Road To World Cup 2014 which was a prequel of World Cup 2014 Album. Brand-new collection is literally action-packed, since it contains stickers of players in action.

Many collectors will be disappointed to know that only 24 teams are included. It is more then obvious that Panini gave unfair advantage to more reputable squads. In order to maintain presence on certain markets, they also included some teams that can not be called reputable.

cover page design

Album and stickers will be distributed probably in Europe only. The only official confirmation I was able to get is from USA distributors that confirmed this set will not be on sale in the United States.

Luckily, if you need a box, set or a complete album of RTEC 2016 Panini, here are some links to buy them online :

Buy a sealed box

Buy a complete album

Buy a starter pack

Panini Road To Euro 2016 Album

Cover page of the album is made out of thin, laminating cardboard. It is multilingual. Design is pretty neat. I must admit that this is one of the cleanest designs Panini has ever made. Additionally its quite unique and does not look like any other album I have seen before.

It features Road To UEFA Euro 2016 title on the top. Bellow it there are circular flags of the nations that are featured in the album. All flags are alphabetically ordered. In this same order, national teams appear inside the stickers album. On the cover margins, there are portrait photos of 8 players :

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain (England) (Huge thanks to Greg Lansdowne who informed me that on the cover is Oxlade-Chamberlain and not Sturridge as I originally thought)

Thomas Müller (Germany)

Andrea Pirlo (Italy)

Zlatan Ibrahimovic (strange how Zlatan accepted to share a cover page with anyone? 🙂 ) (Sweden)

Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal)

UPDATE : Luka Modric (Croatia) (Huge thanks to Propeti)!

Eden Hazard (Belgium)

Sergio Ramos (Spain)

On the bottom of the sticker album there are remaining countries flag. The central position is reserved for UEFA Euro 2016 and Panini logos.

Empty album can be bought for as low as 1-2 euros. In case you do not have this album distributed in your country, I recommend you to buy them online. Here is a link with some decent prices on albums.

So far there are no indication that hardcover album for this collection will be available. It is however quite possible that different countries have different players on cover page.

Sticker Album content

Quite disappointing, album does not include many sections. It is not organized in traditional way. Here are three basic sections of the sticker book (album) :

Content table (inner cover page and page 1)

Qualifiers 1960-2012 (page 2-3)

Teams (4-51)

Qualifiers 2016 (page 52-56)

Introductory/Content table

Similar to any other Panini album, the inner cover page presents introduction table with a list of all sections, teams and symbol explanation. The first album page is in my opinion a pure waste of album space. Instead shiny logos we are used to see in sticker albums, this page features a simple text :

The UEFA Euro qualifiers are underway! This album features teams from all over Europe competing in qualification rounds. They all share one aim : The UEFA Euro 2016 in France. Follow the European qualifiers at www.uefa.com

This tiny text is all over the first page, since it has been translated in 10 languages. Not my cup of tea. I am sure nobody will like this sort of introduction.

Qualifiers 1960-2016

Historical overview of all European cups appears in this full page spread. This is by far my favorite part of the album, rich with statistical information about all European countries and their rankings since the first EC 1960, until the Euro 2012 in Poland and Ukraine.

Teams

From here, album goes straight to the point and features 24 teams on 56 pages. Teams appear on a full page spread. Each of the national squads has the same amount of stickers – 16. Besides players there is nothing else. No badges, no shiny stickers, introductory, puzzle stickers, etc. Players appear according to their position. First goalkeeper, defenders, midfield players and last strikers.

Here is a list of all national squads that are present in the collection. In order in which they appear in collection :

Belgium

Bosnia and Herzegovina

Czech Republic

Germany

England

Spain

France

Greece

Croatia

Republic of Ireland

Italy

Norway

Austria

Poland

Portugal

Romania

Russia

Serbia

Slovenia

Slovakia

Finland

Sweden

Switzerland

Turkey

The more experienced collectors would say that the list of countries is ridiculous and that Panini made it according to the countries in which they sell stickers the most. But I will let you be the judge.

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I would also like to add that since Panini now has license for English team, this will be the first time since 1996 that English squad will have their official kits and logo.

Qualifiers 2016

The last part of the album is an 5-sheet enormous table. Table depicts all the countries (even the ones that are not in the album) that play in qualification phase. All groups from A-I, with a list and results for all the matches. At the bottom of each page, there is a photograph of national teams, 12 teams par page.

Stickers

There is a total of 384 stickers to collect. All stickers are the ones of players. On each sticker, besides player in action photo, there is :

Player name

Birth date

Position

To sum up, a total of 384 stickers include players from 24 national teams. Each squad has 16 stickers. 24*16 equals 384. With this in mind this album is quite similar to the RTWC Brazil published few years back.

Update 4/24/2015| Stickers size is approximately 54×76 mm. In this video I recorded, you can see closely how stickers look.

Box and packets

Each sticker packet contains 5 individual stickers inside. Packets are then packed into boxes of 50, meaning in each box you get 50 packs (250 stickers 50*5). If you have the financial possiblity, I would recommend you to try get a sealed box. The reason for this is quite simple. The chances of getting duplicate stickers are far less when buying a sealed box, then for instance 50 loose packets in different stores. If you are curious about stickers distribution in Panini collection, check out this neat article written by Carlos, our community writer/member/genius.

Starter Packet

For now it is not known if there will be difference in starter packet around the world. One thing is sure, starter pack will include empty album and few sticker packs. Since the album itself already has free stickers in it, it might be a good deal to get starter when you start collecting the album. Not only you will get more stickers, but most probably your album will be in much better condition because of the starter pack protective plastic bag.

Pricing

Sticker packs will be priced at 0.60 euros in most of the countries. Album will be between 1-2 euros. Starterpack price is not yet known. Since the boxes have 50 packs, it is obvious price for a sealed box will be 30 euros.

Pack : 0.60 euros

Album : 1-2 euros

Box : 30 euros (here is a link to buy a box)

Stater pack : unknown (not available in all countries)

Summary

I believe that most hardcore football and sticker fans will be thrilled with the new album. It will certainly be a nice way to get ready for Euro 2016 madness. Obviously with Panini no longer having license for the UEFA Champions League, it was expected that they launch this type of collection. Design is absolutely amazing.

On the other hand, many would say that collection should have been bigger and better prepared with more shiny stickers and statistical information. One reason Panini did not include such stickers could be them trying to avoid similarities with the upcoming Euro 2016 France sticker album. Additionally the choice of the 24 teams included can be a subject to arguments, since they obviously included countries in which they sell stickers the most. Either way you cant blame them from trying to profit.

For all of those card lovers, you will be happy to know that Panini Adrenalyn XL Road To Euro 2016 card collection is coming soon. So stay tuned, as my next article will be about that collection.

Please bookmark this page or revisit article, since we will add more info accordingly.

Video

I have got my album already and created this video, that will hopefully help you out find more about the album itself.



Got, Got, Need – Are you collecting or not?

Do you collect Panini Road To Euro 2016 stickers? What is your opinion on it?

Finally if you would like to swap your duplicates, or simply discuss about this or any other album, feel free to join us on the special community discussion forums or Facebook.

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