Next May 1 everyone should be attentive: exclusively and before it officially arrives in stores across the country, The Panini album from the 2026 World Cup will come free with EL TIEMPO. In all points of sale, supermarkets in the country, stores, you can buy the newspaper that day and at no additional cost take the official album of the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
Panini World Cup 2026 Album Photo:Supplied
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The new Panini album from the 2026 FIFA World Cup
The maximum tournament in world football will take place from June 11 to July 19, 2026 at venues in Canada, Mexico and the United States, and will mark a milestone by being the first with 104 matches played.
This new format not only alters the logistics of the championship, but completely transforms the experience for collectors. The traditional Panini album must adapt to the scale of the largest competition in history, integrating new geographies and the return of selections that return to the global scene.
The expansion of the tournament has allowed the football map to expand in an unprecedented way. For this edition, four national teams will mark their first official appearance at a World Cup event:
- Uzbekistan.
- Jordan.
- Curaçao.
- Cape Verde.
The presence of these teams, presented by FIFA as part of an opening to new regions, means that fans will find completely new content in their collections. Together with them, the tournament recovers the competitive memory of countries that had been absent for years. In this group of returns the following stand out:
- South Africa.
- New Zealand.
- Scotland.
- Norway (returning after 28 years).
- Iraq.
- Haiti.
- Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Panini World Cup 2026 Album Photo:Supplied
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The figures that will star in the collection
With the classification table ready, the names of the stars who will lead their countries begin to generate expectations. According to FIFA, the tournament will feature legends and promising young players who are emerging as the most sought-after films.
Lionel Messi heads the list, heading towards a sixth World Cup that would represent a historical record. Along with him, Cristiano Ronaldo maintains his central place in the conversation with Portugal, while Kylian Mbappé is presented by FIFA as one of the great superstars with the potential to continue climbing the table of historical scorers.
The generational change and the stellar present will also be represented by Vinícius Júnior, called to be the reference for Brazil. For his part, Lamine Yamal has been included by FIFA in its series of ’26 superstars’ heading into the tournament, and Erling Haaland will finally make his debut in the biggest event after leading the Norwegian classification.
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What will the Panini album for the 2026 FIFA World Cup be like?
The scale of 48 selections forces a structural change in the official licensed product. The 2026 edition is designed to represent the diversity and growth of the tournament with the following specifications:
- Extension: The album will have 112 pages.
- Total content: a total of 980 stickers.
- For each selection: two dedicated pages with 20 plates (18 portraits of players, a group photo and the official shield on special material).
- Additional sections: information about stadiums, schedule, tournament history, the qualifying path, records and special stickers of players in action.
This volume of content seeks not only to record the squads, but also to offer a complete context of the first 48-team World Cup, turning each page into a historical document of the growth of global football.
*This content was written with the assistance of artificial intelligence. In addition, it was reviewed by a journalist and an editor.
