With the confirmation by Italian coach Carlo Ancelotti of Brazil’s 26-man squad for the World Cup, the tournament’s sticker album, released at the beginning of April by Panini, will need to undergo adjustments.
Each page has space for 20 stickers, with one of them reserved for the posed photo of the team and the other for the teams’ badge, leaving 18 for the players.
From the selection made by Panini herself before the call-up, five players did not make the list.
Éder Militão and Rodrygo, from Real Madrid, and Estêvão, from Chelsea, were already certain absences, apart from injuries suffered in recent weeks, with no time to recover in time for the tournament.
Goalkeeper Bento, from Al Nassr, and striker João Pedro, from Chelsea, who were among those considered to join the group, also ended up being left out, with Ancelotti opting for Weverton, from Grêmio, in goal, and Neymar, from Santos, and Rayan, from Bournemouth, in the front line.
Panini limited itself to informing, through its press office, that, “as in other World Cups, it is possible that we will have the update ‘pack’.”
The 13 players confirmed by Ancelotti with stickers in the album are goalkeeper Alisson; defenders Marquinhos, Gabriel Magalhães, Danilo and Wesley; midfielders Casemiro, Lucas Paquetá and Bruno Guimarães; and attackers Luiz Henrique, Vinicius Junior, Matheus Cunha, Gabriel Martinelli and Raphinha.
From Ancelotti’s list, one of the figures that will certainly be released by Panini is Neymar, absent from the national team since October 2023 and included in the coach’s list.
There are 12 players on Ancelotti’s list who still compete for four remaining spaces on the Brazil page in the album — goalkeepers Ederson and Weverton; defenders Alex Sandro, Léo Pereira, Bremer, Douglas Santos and Ibañez; midfielders Danilo and Fabinho; and strikers Endrick, Igor Thiago and Rayan.
In the 2022 World Cup, in Qatar, Philippe Coutinho’s role, cut on the eve of the tournament due to injury, was replaced by Bruno Guimarães. Other names called up by Tite, such as Daniel Alves and Gabriel Martinelli, ended up being left out.
