Trading card and collectible brand Topps – owned by Fanatics – is set to snap up future trading card and sticker book licensing rights for four high-profile national soccer teams, according to reports.
Topps will acquire rights for the men's and women's teams of Brazil in 2027, of England and Germany in 2031, and of Italy in 2035, The Athletic publication has reported.
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All these licenses are currently held by major Topps and Fanatics rival Panini.
Acquiring the licenses would give Fanatics and Topps rights to use all intellectual property belonging to those soccer teams and national federations on their range of trading cards and stickers. The brands would also be able to reproduce player names and imagery on those trading cards and stickers.
However, rights covering former national team players would not be covered by such a tie-up, and instead would need to be purchased separately.
The Athletic has cited a senior source from a European soccer federation as saying: "We thought it was going to be a difficult choice, because of how long we’ve been with Panini. But having seen the vision and the innovation and the energy that Fanatics has brought to the category, they really, really impressed us, and it became an easy choice after that.”
For the upcoming men's FIFA World Cup, to take place across Mexico, the US, and Canada, between June 11 and July 19, Panini holds trading card and sticker rights. That deal with FIFA, unveiled in late 2023, will also cover the 2030 edition of soccer's iconic national team competition.
Fanatics also has a tie-up in place with FIFA – it is the retail licensee partner for the World Cup, and is thus in charge of all official tournament shops across the 16 host cities.
Fanatics and Panini are currently locked in a legal wrangle, which began after Fanatics secured licensing rights deals with both the NBA and NFL (in both cases, Panini was the ousted party). Panini then submitted claims of anticompetitive behavior and monopolization against its rival, in a case which continues to rumble on.
The Topps-NFL deal officially began last week, bringing the NFL back into the fold after a decade (the pair were last partnered in 2016).
Topps’ first release under the long-term deal between Fanatics Collectibles and the league is the 2025 Topps Chrome Football offering, which is set to debut on April 15, with pre-orders having begun on April 3.
For Panini, meanwhile, last month, heavyweight and North America's National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) announced a multi-year agreement.
Panini North America becomes the exclusive trading card partner of that 16-team league. The deal also extends to the NWSL's Players Association, with OneTeam Partners brokering the tie-up on behalf of the NWSLPA.
It has also been reported in the last week or so that Panini shareholders are currently mulling a potential sale of the company.
Reuters has reported that shareholders will decide on whether or not to accept outside investment by the end of 2026, and that Panini could be valued at roughly $5.8 billion.
