Anybody got a Rio Ferdinand? World Cup causes sticker madness in Brazil.
| São Paulo, Brazil
• A local, slice-of-life story from a Monitor correspondent.
In a soccer-mad nation like Brazil, the World Cup means much more than a month of sport. It’s the excitement of gathering round the television with friends and family at all times of the day and night. It’s about the shared love of a game that’s as popular in Rangoon as it is in Rio. It’s about selling bigger flat-screen TVs. It’s about beating Argentina.
And it’s about collecting little stickers of soccer players to put in your album.
“When World Cup year comes around I get excited just thinking about getting an album and starting collecting,” said Macida Joachem, who has kept albums ever since she was a girl. “It gets us into the spirit of the tournament.”
IN PICTURES: Ready for the World Cup and Ahead of the World Cup, South African Soccer Dreams
Collecting stickers has become an integral part of the pre-World Cup experience for thousands of Brazilians. The stickers are so widely popular that gunmen in April made off with 675,000 of them from the São Paulo distributor.
The stickers feature the players, teams, and logos of the 24 nations participating in South Africa. There are 638 stickers in all and newsstands sell packets of five for around 40 cents. The stickers go in a $2 album. Collecting them all sounds easy but it isn’t. Fans can easily end up with half a dozen Ronaldinhos (Brazil) and no John Terrys (England), great news if you’re a coach but no use if you want a full album.
To resolve the problem, fans have set up Internet sites to exchange stickers, posted appeals on Facebook, and organized public swaps. There are at least six regular meeting points each weekend in São Paulo. And the people who frequent them are not just kids. Collecting stickers might seem like a childish pastime but adults like Ms. Joachem are just as interested.
“Every year I see more adults,” she said. “It reminds me of my childhood but it’s also educational. It teaches you about exchanging and sharing and respect, too. Kids need to learn about that.”
Related:
- Prostitutes flock to South Africa ahead of World Cup 2010
- England will win World Cup 2010: J.P. Morgan
- All World Cup coverage
IN PICTURES: Ready for the World Cup and Ahead of the World Cup, South African Soccer Dreams
