Card of the Day - 2024-07-27

Panini Football 93 Benelux
Panini [trade/commercial : cards : O/S - Italy] "Football 93" - Belgian edition (1992) 28/446

The clue here was a devious one, but it referred to the club, Royal Antwerp F.C., which is one of the most bike friendly clubs, with parking for 1,600 cycles. In fact they converted part of a car park into split level bike parking.

And they also recycle every beverage cup sold at the stadium by introducing a deposit and refund system. 

There is another clue too, because bicycling is a very good sport for fitness, especially on the legs, and it is starting to be used to develop the hamstring muscles and make them more resilient to in-match strains. 

Our man is actually Rudolf Smidts, and it is almost his birthday, for he was born on the 12th of August 1963. FC Antwerp was his club, for most of his career, though he is also an international player and you might have even seen him in the 1994 World Cup.

These cards are entirely different from the ones issued in the United Kingdom, which have yellow banners to the front.

You can see a complete checklist of our set at Last Sticker/P94-Belgiumthough do note that they call the set "Panini Football Belgium 1992-1993". There are also similar checklists from this current year right back as far as 1970 on their main Belgian Football page - which is even before the stickers were Panini ones.