AI and superheroes in the new Panini Footballers collection
The press conference for the launch of the new collection ‘Calciatori 2025-2026’ the official Panini album that has been chronicling and celebrating the best of Italian soccer for over sixty years, was held Wednesday morning at the Iliad International Broadcast Centre of Lega Calcio Serie A. Numerous guests were in attendance: Lega Calcio Serie A President Ezio Simonelli, Panini Partworks Italy Market Director Martina Limoni, Lega Serie B Marketing, Commercial, Media and Communication Director Fabio Guadagnini and AIAC President Renzo Ulivieri. Lega Calcio Serie A Ambassadors Andrea Ranocchia and Marco Borriello also participated.
“I, like all people of my generation, grew up opening sticker packs. Every year the Calciatori Panini collection surprises us, and this year, too, there is no shortage of captivating novelties for everyone,” said Ezio Simonelli, President of Lega Calcio Serie A. Now in its sixty-fifth edition, the new collection includes 618 stickers, 108 of which are made on special materials, spread over 80 pages. Many innovations have been introduced: from the New Signatures in the City section, dedicated to new arrivals in the clubs, to the Gem Squad, Super Glovez, Trick Maestro and Boom D’impatto, which transform the protagonists of Serie A Enilive into real superheroes.
There is no shortage of Power Bros, dedicated to siblings committed to the top series, and Family Legacies, which unite legendary fathers and up-and-coming sons in a single figurine. A particularly scenic novelty is the use of artificial intelligence to reinterpret the backgrounds of the figurines in the Gem Squad, Super Glovez, Trick Maestro, and Boom D’impatto sections, generating 60 urban and futuristic-style stickers.
“The Footballers collection has always been an interpreter of the new social reference models…particularly appreciated by younger people” explained Martina Limoni, Director Market Italy Partworks. As in the previous edition, the half-bust pose, iconic and beloved by collectors, is re-proposed. Central remains the jersey number, along with the technical and physical data of the players, while the background recalls the social colors of each club, reinforcing its visual identity.ì
The collection is rounded out with spaces dedicated to Serie BKT and Lega Pro, the Scudetto and fielded team stickers, as well as the Calciatori Upgrade – with market updates – and Calciatori Celebration sections, which chronicle the season’s most significant moments.
Also among this year’s novelties is the opening of a Panini newsstand completely dedicated to the Calciatori 2025-2026 collection: a new physical location in Piazzale Lavater in Milan, designed as a point of reference for the Calciatori universe and connected to the network of branded newsstands throughout Italy. The Calciatori 2025-2026 album thus confirms itself as an unmissable event, capable of uniting different generations in a tradition that continues to renew itself, celebrating the passion and history of Italian soccer.
