Card of the Day - 2022-11-26

Panini "World Cup Story"
Panini [trade : Commercial : O/S : Italy] "World Cup Story" (1994) 104/228

Of course, the clue here was the beard itself, and he is one of the few bearded football players I know of. Does anyone know any others? I was not a Spurs supporter but do remember these two Argentineans arriving to play for the club - Ricardo Villa and Ossie Ardiles. There is a very interesting account of this at FootballPink

Now I cannot find this set in our reference books but according to the Football Cartophilic Info Exchange / WorldCupStory it was issued in 1994. And there is a full checklist of all the cards there as well. 

In 1994 the World Cup was held in America, at a variety of venues, with the final at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Los Angeles, California. The finalists were Italy and Brazil and it ended in a goalless draw, so it was decided with the first ever World Cup penalty shoot out in extra time, which Brazil won 3-2.  

The "Sonrics" star is intriguing but it reportedly refers to a confectionery brand that was launched in Mexico in 1986. The owner, Sabritas, did not actually make their own sweets, they came to an arrangement where other companies did the sweets and they did the distribution. It was a huge success and is now part of PepsiCo. But I have not been able to find out what the connection was between Sonrics and this card. Anyone out there know? 

Now this card was almost removed, because as I was going through the index I found I had used this set "Panini World Cup Story" - to illustrate the 1930 Uruguay World Cup Poster. But the back turned out to be different - when I looked, that one was the version with all text and no "SONRICS" logo. But this back is different, entirely.

And it turns out that it is not a double after all, but a different printing, issued in Colombia, so both will remain. And you can see that at https://csgb.co.uk/cardoftheday/2023-06-24