Fanatics has confirmed its new exclusive trading card partnership with English soccer’s FA governing body, adding another major contract for its Topps brand while striking another blow to rival Panini.
First rumored back in early April, Fanatics has now confirmed that it will take over the licensing of FA brands for trading cards, stickers, and trading card games from 2031 onward, supplanting Panini.
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As with its other major contracts, Topps will leverage this deal to produce cards bearing autographs and game-worn memorabilia.
Panini has held the rights to use England national team iconography since 2015.
Fanatics, however, already has a tie-up with the FA concerning merchandising, and will now extend that agreement into collectables.
Indeed, Fanatics is the operator of the English national team’s online e-commerce store, as well as the https://sport.globaldata.com/News/fanatics-extands-expands-fa-tie-up-following-record-merchandise-salese-commerce rightsholder for the wider FA.
That deal was renewed in 2024 after the FA drew “record” retail revenue across the UEFA Euro 2024 international competition, in which England finished runners-up, with Fanatics managing operations as tournament records for England merchandise sales were broken.
Alongside England, Topps has reportedly also acquired the rights for the men's and women's teams of Brazil in 2027, Germany in 2031, and Italy in 2035, all licenses held by Panini.
Most recently, in perhaps the biggest blow to Panini, Topps supplanted its rival as the new official partner of global soccer governing body FIFA, and will take over collectables production for all FIFA-organized tournaments and events from 2031.
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 earlier this year, bringing the NFL back into the fold after a decade (the pair were last partnered in 2016).
