Kicking off my Women's World Cup sticker collection

After boycotting the World Cup sticker album for Qatar 2022, I've decided to start collecting the Women's World Cup stickers for this summer's competition in Australia and New Zealand.

I decided to start big, ordering the starter set and a box of 50 sticker packets directly off Panini.

However, before that arrived I bought a couple of multi-packs of stickers in the supermarket. 

The very first sticker in the very first packet from a multi-pack was a shiny one - the team badge for Canada.

In the 60 stickers in those multi-packs I didn't get a single England player. One of the host nations, Australia, was very well represented, though, with the badge and five players - ten per cent of the stickers!

There were six stickers inserted in the album when it arrived, including the first England player I stuck in - Beth Mead. However, Beth has had a cruciate injury since November so I don't know if she is going to make it to the World Cup.

However, it's the centre-pages that really grabbed my attention. Broadly speaking it's a "star players" section with action shots of the best players from each team on a shiny sticker. 

But what the designers have done is very cleverly photoshopped in an abstract background of different shapes that match the design printed on the pages. It produces a visual effect which I think is probably the best one I've seen ever done by Panini.

The lay out of the team pages is also nicely done, with the pages arranged in a variety of different formations instead of the usual straight rows of squad photos. The central feature pages then elevate the whole sticker book to a new level. 

I'm really pleased that such care and attention has been paid to the pinnacle competition in women's football.