Fanatics-owned collectables brand Topps has struck yet another major blow to rival Panini in the race to dominate global sports merchandising rights, supplanting its rival as the new official partner of global soccer governing body FIFA.
This new contract, beginning in 2031, will cover all FIFA-organized tournaments and events with Topps to provide trading cards, trading card games, and stickers surrounding major events such as the FIFA World Cup, Women’s World Cup, and Club World Cup.
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The agreement covers both physical and digital collectables, with FIFA and Topps naturally looking to capitalize on the major growth in the trading card market in recent years.
In particular, cards featuring game-worn jersey patch cutouts will be produced throughout the duration of the agreement, including patches from this year’s World Cup, which will be taken and saved until the onset of the agreement in 2031.
On the new deal, FIFA president Gianni Infantino said: “Across the sports landscape, we see that Fanatics is driving massive innovation in collectables that provides fans with a new, meaningful way to engage with their favorite teams and with their favorite players.
“So, from FIFA’s point of view, we can globalize that fan engagement precisely thanks to our global tournament portfolio. And this provides another important commercial revenue stream that we channel back, as always, into the game.”
Michael Rubin, who founded Fanatics and serves as the firm’s chief executive, added: “This is truly a historic day in our company’s history. Global football is the biggest growth opportunity in sports, and when you combine the power of FIFA with the innovation and entrepreneurial backbone of Fanatics, together we’re poised to elevate storytelling and collectables around the game in a way that’s never been seen before.”
Panini has held the coveted contract since 1970 (except the 1994 World Cup), meaning the partnership will have run for 60 years by the time of its conclusion.
Panini’s most recent contract agreement with FIFA, unveiled in late 2023, spans the upcoming 2026 men's FIFA World Cup – to take place across Mexico, the US, and Canada, between June 11 and July 19 – and will also cover the 2030 edition of soccer's iconic national team competition.
FIFA has been perhaps Panini’s marquee client over the past 56 years, making the switch to Topps a major blow to the enterprise, which has struggled to keep up with cash-rich Fanatics in recent years.
Most recently, Topps reportedly acquired the rights for the men's and women's teams of Brazil in 2027, England and Germany in 2031, and Italy in 2035, all licenses held by Panini.
Indeed, 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).
Topps’ first release under the long-term deal between Fanatics Collectibles and the league is the 2025 Topps Chrome Football offering, which debuted on April 15.
For Panini, meanwhile, it announced a multi-year agreement in March with North America's National Women's Soccer League (NWSL).
Panini North America becomes the exclusive trading card partner of the 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 was also reported in the last few weeks that Panini shareholders are currently mulling a potential sale of the company.
Reuters has reported that shareholders will decide on whether to accept outside investment by the end of 2026, and that Panini could be valued at roughly $5.8 billion.
