World Cup

Portugal would catch the eye with their fine performances at the European Championships in 2000, but getting there in the first place was a tough task for coach Humberto Coelho and his golden generation of stars. The qualification campaign took place mostly over 1999...

1930 was a historic year in football with the introduction of the FIFA World Cup™, the competition which would officially decide the best footballing nation on earth. The first tournament was hosted in Uruguay with thirteen nations and has grown ever since in size...

The hosting by Los Angeles of the 1984 Summer Olympics was a great opportunity for the United States team to enjoy home advantage and capture the imagination of a curious domestic audience in the soccer event. Unfortunately, the adventure ended prematurely in the group...

Norway entered the late 1980s with a young and developing national team, still searching for consistency but beginning to show signs of the progress that would define the years ahead. The qualifying campaign for Euro ’88 proved challenging, with Norway drawn into a demanding...

The 1984-85 season was one of change for Benfica with new manager Tomislav Ivic departing early in the campaign and being replaced by Pal Csernai. New signings Jorge Silva, Wando & Adelino Nunes arrived to replace the departing Fernando Chalana and Glenn Stromberg. These...

The 1998-99 season brought the penta for FC Porto - a fifth successive Portuguese title win and an 18th overall for the club. Fernando Santos took over at the start of the season and kept the successful run going with the club finishing a...

For many, a FIFA tournament™ starts when the opening game is kicked-off. But for Panini-lovers, it all starts months earlier. Their eyes light up when seeing a shiny foil badge in a newly opened packet of stickers. For generations, football-lovers have been collecting the...

1930 was a historic year in football with the introduction of the FIFA World Cup™, the competition which would officially decide the best footballing nation on earth. The first tournament was hosted in Uruguay with thirteen nations and has grown ever since in size...

Croatia became an independent country in 1990 and established a national football team almost simultaneously. This team celebrated its new status by playing a debut fixture against the USA in October of that year. 1992 represented a significant year in the development of football...

West Germany began the 1960s with memories of the Miracle of Bern and the 1954 World Cup win still fresh in their minds. Standards were slipping, however, and a Quarter Final exit in the 1962 competition to Yugoslavia encouraged an agenda of change. Full...

The 1982-83 season brought major change for Internazionale with the arrival of Rino Marchesi as coach and significant changes in the playing squad. World Cup winning defender Fulvio Collovati crossed over from neighbours Milan to complement the fast-emerging Bergomi, Ferri and Zenga, while two...

The 1960s represented one of the most iconic decades in the long and successful history of the club, a decade when FC Internazionale became La Grande Inter. With the back-to-back European and World Cup Cup wins in the middle of the decade, the world...

Champions both the year before and the year after, the 1984-85 season saw Panathinaikos miss out on the Greek title as they finished 3 points behind PAOK. Much attention was focused on the club's European run which took them all the way to the...

For many, a FIFA tournament™ starts when the opening game is kicked-off. But for Panini-lovers, it all starts months earlier. Their eyes light up when seeing a shiny foil badge in a newly opened packet of stickers. For generations, football-lovers have been collecting the...

1930 was a historic year in football with the introduction of the FIFA World Cup™, the competition which would officially decide the best footballing nation on earth. The first tournament was hosted in Uruguay with thirteen nations and has grown ever since in size...

1930 was a historic year in football with the introduction of the FIFA World Cup™, the competition which would officially decide the best footballing nation on earth. The first tournament was hosted in Uruguay with thirteen nations and has grown ever since in size...

With veterans like Heinz Hermann and Alain Sutter still an integral part of the Swiss scene as the decade ticked over into the 1990s, a new generation of younger attacking talent was emerging to complement them through players like Stephane Chapuisat, Kubilay Turkilmaz, and...

There were fine players like Paul Van Himst, Leon Semeling, Jef Jurion, Wilfried Van Moer, and Raoul Lambert, but there was little to cheer for the Belgian national team during the 1960s. A failure to qualify for any significant international tournament meant Belgium's only...

One of Europe's great clubs during the 1960s, even today Dukla Prague remains something of a cult icon because of the famously distinctive shirt they sported during their glory days. And what glory days they were. Winners of five Czechoslovakian titles and four domestic...

Having finished the previous year as runners-up to Uruguay in the Copa America, 1984 proved a quiet year for Brazil featuring just a handful of friendly matches in June of that year. These games were used to give opportunities to up and coming and...

Determined to go one better than the runners-up spot earned at the 1974 tournament, the Dutch qualified comfortably for the 1978 competition ahead of local rivals Belgium and traveled to Argentina in confident mood. Form was slow to build, however, and qualification from the...

The 1970s started in some style with Mexico playing a role in making the 1970 tournament, which they hosted, so memorable. Javier de la Torre's team cruised through the group stage with wins over Belgium and El Salvador and a draw with the Soviet...

For many, a FIFA tournament™ starts when the opening game is kicked-off. But for Panini-lovers, it all starts months earlier. Their eyes light up when seeing a shiny foil badge in a newly opened packet of stickers. For generations, football-lovers have been collecting the...