Across the Pond

John from Pursuit of 80's(ness) sent me a nice package of football (soccer) cards. I received them yesterday and will be going through them for most of today.

My first impression of the cards was somewhat foreign. The card packaging is quite different from what I'm used to here in America. First off, football "cards" aren't very much cards at all. Most people (adults and children alike) are still big into the football stickers. The heavy player in this is Panini, who dabbled in American sports early in the 90's.

Packs of Panini Cards I received:
UEFA Champions League Trading Card Game 2008/2009
UEFA Champions League Trading Cards 2007
UEFA Champions League 2005
Coca Cola Championship Stickers 2009
Coca Cola Championship Trading Card Game 2009

The Coca Cola Championship Stickers 2009 are small feature two players on each sticker. I received two Birmingham guys, Quincy Owusu-Abeyie and Lee Carsley (lol), Barnsley's Stephen Foster, and Burnley's Brian Jensen. I also got two shiny stickers of Football kits and crests. The first one being both home and away kits of Blackpool while the second was a really awesome 125 years crest of Coventry City.

The Championship Trading Card Game cards are really cool. The background of the card has the club's crest with the player in front. On the side has the player's name, team, DOB, along with some form of point system in the top right. At the bottom right hand corner there is a star with a number inside. All cards are "8" other than two, which are "7". At the very bottom there is the Championship Cup with a number under that. Everyone has "0" while some have "1" or "2". No idea what any of this means.

The UEFA Champions League Stickers from 05 yielded me, Porto's Hugo Almeida, Man United's Paul Scholes, Leverkusen's Clemens Fritz, Lyon's Gregory Coupet, and a photo from a 1960's Champions League Match. I have no idea what game it is from though.

The 07 Champs League cards are pretty cool. The set up of the card is very simliar to the Championship Trading Card game, other than the club crest background and players. In my pack, I got a Javier Zanetti from Inter Milan.

The Champs League stickers feature a close shot of the player's face. Didn't get any superstar's, but did get a sticker of a field. I can't tell what stadium it is, but I am pretty sure it's not any English venue. There's a rubber track surrounding it. The stadium itself isn't very large. At the bottom of the card it says "UEFA Champions League Legend".

This year's version of the Champions League TCG cards have a very modern feel to them. I'm no fan of Celtic at all, and pulled two players. One being Jan Vennegoor Of Hesselink. Other notable pulls are Lukas Podolski and Giorgio Chiellini.

Thanks again to John, your package will be out by the end of the week! Also, expect pay back for the Sol Campbell figure you gave me, that's a low blow.