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FIFA and Fanatics have significantly expanded their commercial partnership through a landmark long-term agreement that will make the sports merchandising and collectibles giant the exclusive global partner for FIFA trading cards, stickers and trading card games from 2031 onward.
The deal represents one of the biggest changes in the global football collectibles industry in decades, with Fanatics Collectibles, operating under the Topps brand, set to produce official FIFA collectibles across the organisation’s international tournaments and competitions.
The agreement spans both physical and digital collectibles, including trading cards, sticker collections and trading card games, while also introducing premium memorabilia concepts such as authentic player jersey patch cards into international football collectibles for the first time.
FIFA President Gianni Infantino said, “Across the sports landscape, we see that Fanatics is driving massive innovation in collectibles that provides fans with a new, meaningful way to engage with their favourite teams and with their favourite players. So, from FIFA’s point of view, we can globalise 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, into football.”
Fanatics Founder and CEO, Michael Rubin, continued, “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 collectibles around the game in a way that’s never been seen before.”
Fanatics Collectibles CEO, Mike Mahan, added, “We’re incredibly excited to partner with FIFA to deliver truly innovative products that bring fans and collectors closer to their favourite players in the biggest competitions. Through our cutting-edge offerings, we look forward to helping grow both the hobby and the global game as a whole.”
The agreement also marks the end of Panini’s historic association with FIFA World Cup sticker albums and trading cards. Panini has held FIFA collectibles rights since the FIFA World Cup 1970, with the 2030 edition set to become the final tournament under the long-running partnership.
Fanatics has rapidly expanded its presence in the sports collectibles market following its acquisition of Topps in 2022 and already holds partnerships with several major global sports properties, including Formula 1, National Hockey League, Premier League, and WWE.
The expanded relationship further strengthens Fanatics’ role within FIFA’s commercial ecosystem ahead of the FIFA World Cup 2026, where the company will oversee official retail operations and FIFA fan festival merchandise experiences.
As part of the collaboration, Fanatics also announced plans to distribute more than $150 million worth of collectibles globally through grassroots football and fan engagement initiatives.
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