Children trading at recess, office workers organizing the exchange, and meetings to swap stickers every Saturday in different squares across the country. These are the images left every four years by the World Cup with the sticker albums. That nostalgia for Mexican football finds a new format for collectors. The National Lottery and the Panini publishing house presented this Wednesday a commemorative retro album that mixes the tradition of the draws with the memory of the tournaments that have marked the country as a World Cup host. The edition, called Mexico Mundial, transforms the classic lottery “cachitos” into stickers that fans must collect to complete the album with commemorative tickets that cover different historical moments of national soccer.
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The vintage design, with the ancient ball game on the cover, mixes the aesthetics of the traditional Panini World Cup albums with lottery tickets. It consists of 20 pieces with images of stadiums, players, and iconic moments from the 1970 and 1986 World Cups, as well as the 1971 women’s Cup, despite not being recognized by FIFA. Each cachito will function as a sticker that collectors can add to the album. “It is important not to stick them until after the draw, in case they win,” said Olivia Salomón, director of the National Lottery, this morning at the presentation in Mexico City.
Distribution begins this coming Sunday with the Zodiac Draw, which will issue collectible cachitos each week. The album is given with the purchase of each ticket at no additional cost at more than 12,000 sales points across the country. Completing the collection involves acquiring the 20 pieces, which will be distributed until June.
“Our albums, like the lottery, are moments. Parents and children trading stickers and friends negotiating passionately at recess,” said Marina Benavides, general director of Panini in Mexico. “Collecting is not just saving, it is sharing and reliving,” added Olivia Salomón, director of the National Lottery, while recalling that the draws are also part of the country’s popular memory. Along the same lines, Gabriela Cuevas assured that at the launch “the hope of the lottery meets the passions of our country.”
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Former World Cup players such as Alicia Vargas along with the 1971 runner-up team, Manuel Negrete, Alberto García Aspe, and Francisco Javier El Abuelo Cruz attended the presentation. Vargas, known as “the Mexican Pelé,” recalled the impact of the 1971 women’s World Cup and thanked the inclusion of her team in the collection. “We were warriors without anyone’s support,” she said, referring to the tournament that gathered more than 100,000 people at the Azteca Stadium.
The commemorative draw will include a grand prize of 11 to 17 million pesos in two series. Each cachito will cost 20 or 35 pesos. “It is an accessible, free album that can be completed for only 400 pesos. It is an inclusive album,” Cuevas highlighted.
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