On Friday morning, I had the pleasure of interviewing Tony Hadley on my radio show on Wave Mallorca. Having grown up listening to Spandau Ballet, it was a bit surreal to be talking to the man whose songs were such a big part of my youth and whose voice has, without doubt, stood the test of time.
On Saturday night, he performed at the Port Adriano Music Festival in a beautiful setting right next to the marina.
Tony Hadley can turn his hand to any song. He learned his trade by singing in his school choir and entering singing contests at Butlins and Pontins. His swing and operatic influences come from his mum and dad, who used to play Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett and Mario Lanza while preparing the family’s Sunday lunch.
You naturally associate Spandau Ballet with True and Gold, two anthems in their own right. Tony mentioned that those are the two songs he is always asked to perform, but interestingly, when the band played Live Aid at Wembley in 1985, Gold wasn’t on the set list.
Last night’s set was, of course, heavily Spandau-based, but it also included a few of Tony’s own songs. The band were tight, as were the harmonies, and it was great to see and hear live percussion and, of course, the iconic saxophone. After the first few songs, I turned to my wife and said, “Spandau have such a great catalogue of songs, and we haven’t even reached the biggest hits yet.”
Interestingly, he opened with To Cut a Long Story Short, the band’s very first single, released in 1980. A remarkable 46 years ago!
Tony also mentioned that Through the Barricades is his favourite Spandau Ballet song, which he performed with a subtle swing feel, helped along by a glass of Jack Daniel’s to keep the vocal cords lubricated!
The finale was exactly as it had to be: True, followed by Gold, and he left the stage to a standing ovation.
He probably won’t thank me for mentioning that he’s now 66 years old, but in my mind—and, I’m sure, in the minds of many of you reading this—Spandau Ballet simply isn’t Spandau Ballet without Tony Hadley.
From memory, here was last night’s set list:
● To Cut a Long Story Short
● Highly Strung
● Only When You Leave
● Alibi
● Walk of Shame
● Round and Round
● Soul Boy
● I’ll Fly for You
● Through the Barricades
● Somebody to Love
● Lifeline
● Chant No. 1 (I Don’t Need This Pressure On)
● True
● Gold
Tony is back on the road in November and December with his Big Band Tour, performing all over the UK. For tickets and more information, please visit https://tonyhadley.com.
have to hold my hands up and say I was one of the people who thought that having 48 teams in the World Cup would be too much. I am happy to set the record straight and say I thoroughly enjoyed it. As a footballing spectacle, it was good, but the American influence on the tournament was too obvious and, in the end, unnecessary. These are the things that need looking at before the next tournament.
1. The countdown to kick-off was very annoying and completely unnecessary. Can you see the crowds in the Premier League joining in with that?
2. The rehydration breaks that FIFA insisted were not commercial, when we all knew they were. It came up on the big screens: “And now, the rehydration break, brought to you by Powerade!” Apparently, in the States, those breaks alone brought in $250 million. The Americans are used to in-play ad breaks. Let’s face it, a one-hour American football game takes at least three hours! But for us Europeans, it was totally alien and definitely broke up the flow of the game.
3. Why did we have to cut to FIFA president Gianni Infantino acting like the Godfather within 10 minutes of every game he attended?
4. Probably the most controversial thing was Trump calling Infantino to overturn the red card shown to American forward Folarin Balogun. We’re not arguing whether it was a red card or not, but the fact that Trump had the nerve to call Infantino in the first place, and then Infantino overturning it, stunk of a stitch-up.
5. I have never liked famous singers performing the national anthem. I prefer to hear the players singing out of tune and the crowd singing together, as that creates a great atmosphere. Step forward Jennifer Hudson, who was tasked with singing The Star-Spangled Banner. Now, I know she’s a star in her own right and can certainly sing, but she definitely spangled this one. Why do these singers always try to perform an anthem differently when the standard tune will suffice? Then they try to hit notes that, to be honest, just aren’t achievable.
6. And now let’s talk about the half-time show. Take a deep breath here because I’m coming in with a long run-up.
We started with a clearly pre-recorded and mimed performance from Madonna, who was flanked by what looked like overweight lookalikes of Ronaldinho and R9 Ronaldo—until I found out they were actually the real ones! They were driving a car that looked like they’d nicked it from The Banana Splits(remember them?), and I was half expecting them to break into “Tra La La, La La La La”.
This moved on to more miming from K-pop stars BTS, who were obviously thrown in for the youngsters. Then it was, of course, time for a substitute, but who thought Justin Bieber—who looked like he’d arrived straight from a busking stint at Grand Central Station—was a good idea? Especially when he broke into the most morose song he could find.
The only bright spark was Shakira, along with Burna Boy (no, me neither), but even that fell a little flat. I’m told the creative direction was put together by Coldplay’s Chris Martin. Surely he’d have been more successful bringing out his own band for 25 minutes?
Wayne Rooney mumbled his way through six weeks of football punditry, but his finest moment came when Gabby Logan asked him what he thought of the half-time show.
“Crap,” came his reply.
Well said, Wazza!
7. Finally, the trophy presentation. We all knew Trump would try to get himself into the celebrations, as he had previous at the Club World Cup. Infantino did his best to lead him away like a son would an errant grandad, but he couldn’t resist one final shuffle into the spotlight. The best thing FIFA did was airbrush him out of the final photos.
All in all, it was a good competition that was slightly spoiled by the Americanisms. Let’s see what happens in four years’ time in Spain, Portugal and Morocco.
It was great to see Spain’s players celebrating in Madrid in front of over 2 million people after returning home from their win over Argentina. However, I think it would have been a good idea for them to visit a few other cities to give everyone in the country a chance to celebrate their heroes. Even a trip to Mallorca would have been nice! While I appreciate that they are tired and want to spend time with their families, a little trophy tour would have added to the feel-good factor around the country.
For the 26-man squad, nothing will quite match the euphoria of adding a second star above their nation’s badge.
However, each player is set to receive a gross payout of €754,701.92 (£640,500) for winning the World Cup. The sum aligns with the agreement reached with the RFEF, under which the players were to receive 45% of the prize money FIFA awards to the governing body for winning the tournament—a total of around €44 million (£37.3 million).
As a result, around €19.8 million (£16.8 million) will go to the players, after they reportedly agreed to collect major bonuses only if they reached the latter stages of the tournament.
However, the players will immediately have to part with a significant chunk of that money in income tax. Depending, of course, on where they play their club football, the Spanish players’ personal income tax rate is around 45%, meaning each player could lose as much as €370,000 (£314,000) to tax.
I also think the players, the governing body, and even the Government have missed a trick here. Let’s face it: while €44 million is a significant amount of money to most of us, in the football world it’s a drop in the ocean. The Government could have declared these payments tax-free, while the players and the governing body could have pledged that the money saved would be invested in grassroots football, helping to ensure that another generation of players can one day add a third star to that famous red shirt.
Having had two sons progress through the Spanish youth football system, I have no doubt that investment made now will have a significant impact on the future success of football here in Spain.
It’s a subject that keeps coming up, and I’ve commented on it many times here. It comes back into the spotlight again here in Mallorca on Sunday, July 26th. We are talking about tourism sustainability.
The last major protest of this kind was in July last year, so it makes you wonder two things: Is there a problem, and what have these people been doing for the past year?
You would think the protesters would have come up with some workable ideas by now that could benefit the island. But no. What they have come up with is a document singling out key commercial pillars that they accuse of driving up the cost of living and squeezing out local residents.
Holiday Rental Properties: Apartments and villas utilised for short-term tourist accommodation.
Hotels and Resorts: Major hotel chains and infrastructure catering to mass tourism.
Real Estate Agencies: Firms facilitating property investments and second-home purchases for international buyers.
This is the part I find unbelievable, and I’m not making this up.
Rather than advocating for peaceful assemblies, the document functions as an operational guide for low-level sabotage and avoiding law enforcement.
Identifying and avoiding security cameras when targeting a business.
Scanning areas for police presence and checking for plainclothes officers.
Tactical advice on avoiding personal identification by the authorities.
Carrying out direct actions such as graffiti, vandalism and property defacement, building on recent incidents where real estate storefronts were smashed and spray-painted.
Now, I believe in people’s right to protest, but when you go down this line, to me, you lose all credibility. This is what we are dealing with. Rather than coming up with sensible ideas, they come up with this. I’m lost for words.
I agree that Mallorca needs to look at its sustainability, but let’s be honest: we are not working flat out for 12 months of the year. I would say it’s four months—June to September. Some would argue it’s only July and August. Regardless of whether it’s two or four months, it’s not all year round. But that shouldn’t be an excuse to ignore what is going on. We should react in a positive way.
To alleviate the strain on infrastructure and the local housing market, the authorities have introduced definitive caps:
Cruise Ship Restrictions: Palma limits cruise arrivals to a maximum of three ships per day, with only one allowed to be a mega-ship carrying over 5,000 passengers.
Accommodation Freezes: Local updates for 2026 show a complete halt to the construction of new youth hostels and tourist apartment rentals in the capital city.
Capacity Targets: The Balearic Government has explicitly set caps to prevent total visitor numbers across the archipelago from exceeding historical thresholds.
In Mallorca, you are legally required to have an official tourist licence to advertise a property for short-term holiday rentals. Airbnb enforces this by requiring owners to enter a valid licence number before a listing can go live. In the city of Palma, renting apartments to tourists is now illegal.
However, here is a great example of how a national government run by one political party can undermine all the work of an island government run by another. The national government, run by the PSOE in coalition, decided to create a moratorium allowing roughly 500,000 undocumented migrants to obtain one-year work and residence permits. The measure was designed to integrate foreign nationals already in the country, address labour shortages and combat exploitation.
At this point, 34,000 have applied here in Mallorca. Whilst they now become legal residents, it makes you wonder how many didn’t apply, and what steps are we taking to stop undocumented migrants arriving in the first place?
I keep going back to an interview I did with Brad Robertson, who is the Founder and Ambassador of Save The Med. One of their missions is to promote regeneration through a holistic approach, helping local communities become aware and active custodians.
He said, “There’s too many people, mate. Whether you’re a tourist or someone who doesn’t leave your house, it doesn’t matter. There’s just too many of us!”
In two decades, Mallorca’s population has grown from 727,000 to 960,000, an increase of 32 per cent.
This week I wanted to talk about my England World Cup experiences since I arrived in Mallorca.
Italy 1990
My first ever season in Mallorca, and England, after a slow start, were playing out of their skin. It was the emergence of Paul Gascoigne, and I can distinctly remember Punta Ballena going completely mad when David Platt scored a dramatic late winner against Belgium in the last 16. That was followed by a nervy 3–2 win over Cameroon, before a heartbreaking penalty shootout loss to our old foes, Germany.
United States of America 1994
This was an easy one, as England didn’t even qualify! It was the tournament where Graham Taylor, the then England manager, famously said, “Do I not like that!”
France 1998
I can still see Michael Owen waltzing through the Argentinian defence as a young 18-year-old to score one of the World Cup’s greatest goals. That was tempered by David Beckham kicking out at the wily Diego Simeone, leaving England with 10 men. They hung on gallantly, only to lose on penalties again.
South Korea and Japan 2002
This was a World Cup much like the one we are experiencing now, with some strange kick-off times. I remember watching Beckham’s revenge over Argentina over breakfast! This World Cup, though, will be remembered for Ronaldinho lobbing David Seaman from 40 yards. Was it a fluke or an act of genius? Nobody really knows, but it meant England were saying Sayonara to Japan.
Germany 2006
England were sweating on the fitness of a young Wayne Rooney, who had a broken foot and was deemed to be the man to lead them to glory. He did go but was disappointing and failed to score a single goal. They eventually lost to Portugal in the quarter-finals on, yes, you’ve guessed it… penalties! Scoring just one of the four they took.
South Africa 2010
Remembered for those damned vuvuzelas! I remember being back home in the UK for a family celebration and watching the Germany game with my brother-in-law, Anthony. It was the game that produced the “goal” that never was. Frank Lampard hit a shot that clearly crossed the line, but the referee didn’t give it. England were outclassed, went on to lose the game, and were out. That incident led to the introduction of VAR.
Brazil 2014
A tournament to forget. Losing to Italy and Uruguay, and drawing with Costa Rica, meant we were home before the 14-day return period on my new England shirt was up!
Russia 2018
The first of Sir Gareth Southgate’s tournaments, and the one where we finally broke our penalty shootout hoodoo against Colombia. Hands up if you had no faith in Eric Dier scoring the winning penalty! Unfortunately, we couldn’t maintain that momentum and lost in the semi-finals to Croatia.
Qatar 2022
I would have put my house on Harry Kane scoring from the penalty spot. However, against France in the quarter-finals, he managed to hit a guy in Row Z, and we were out.
USA, Mexico and Canada 2026
From my first World Cup in Mallorca in 1990, standing on Punta Ballena, to now, I’m at the stage where my boys are sending me videos of themselves celebrating in the very same street while I’m in bed! Regardless of where I was, this was honestly one of the greatest football matches I have ever seen England play.
I was born in 1966, so it’s sixty years of hurt…Never stop me dreaming!
I’ve got a positive and a negative for you this week.
Last week, I talked about the changes in Magalluf that I’ve seen over my 35 years here, and that the council were going to be holding a special opening last Saturday.
My wife and I decided to go along and do something completely different.
If you’d said 10 years ago that the Balearic Symphony Orchestra would be playing live on Magalluf Beach, you would have been laughed out of town.
Such is the change in the resort over time that this was possible, along with a spectacular drone show.
We booked ourselves into Blackbeard’s Beach Bar & Grill, and as luck would have it, we had a perfect view of the stage from where we were sitting. There were thousands of people there, both tourists and residents from lots of different countries. Police estimates were around the 10,000 mark, and everyone seemed to be enjoying the evening.
The orchestra played music from shows and films, with a huge screen behind them showing videos that linked the two together. This was perfectly accompanied by 400 drones, which lit up the night sky with some amazing images.
Chapeau! to Mayor Juan Antonio Amengual and his team for putting on such a great evening. I hope it isn’t a one-off, as this proved that, with the right planning and organisation, anything can be done.
My good mood was tempered on Monday morning when Real Mallorca released their season ticket prices for the new league campaign. Since we got relegated on the 23rd of May, it has been nothing but bad news.
The coach, Martin Demichelis, signed a new contract and then, two weeks later, reneged on the deal and left for RB Leipzig in Germany.
From the team, we’ve lost Muriqi, Larin, Maffeo, Mascarell and Asano, who have either been sold or left on free transfers. Joseph and Kumbulla have gone back to their parent clubs, and I think we’re going to lose Costa, Mojica, Virgili, Torre, Román and Lato too.
As I write this, not one player has been signed.
So, with all that great news, the club decided to reduce my season ticket price by just 20%. We’re no longer watching Barcelona and Real Madrid; we’re watching Almería and Las Palmas! No offence to those two clubs—they were simply the first that came to mind.
Contrast that with the other relegated teams. Girona have reduced their prices by 50%, and Real Oviedo by 40%, which I think is fair in both cases.
Mallorca wrote into all the players’ contracts that relegation would mean a 50% cut in wages, so what happened to the 50% cut in the cost of season tickets? It’s a joke!
My seat last season cost me €500, and this year it will cost €415. If you’d like to sit in the same area as me but you’re buying a seat for the very first time, that will set you back €700! More than half of the Premier League clubs are cheaper than that.
With the relegation parachute payment, the transfer money from players sold, and the wages saved on those players—plus the 50% wage cut for the rest of the squad—Mallorca will have the biggest budget in the Second Division. So why not pass some of that on to the long-suffering fans?
You might say, “Well, you don’t have to buy one if you don’t want to.” But football fans are a different breed. We support our teams through thick and thin, and I can’t turn my back on them.
Whoever is in charge of this debacle obviously hasn’t read the room.
I arrived in Mallorca in 1990 on a Dan-Air flight (remember them?) as I was attending a training course for new holiday reps with a company called Intasun. We had never been abroad as a family, so my mum (God bless her) thought I would be back within a week. Thirty-six years later, I’m still here!
The training course took place at the Hotel Guadalupe in Magaluf. It was fairly intense, but my previous four years as a Butlin’s Redcoat stood me in good stead, and I passed with flying colours. There must have been around 50 people on the course, and everyone who passed was called in to be told where in the world they were being sent. Another girl called Lisa and I were told we were staying in Magaluf.
And so my love affair with Mallorca and Magaluf began.
Magaluf’s advertising in 1990 was defined by brash, party-focused marketing from budget travel operators like Club 18–30. Campaigns relied heavily on cheeky slogans, radio spots, and tabloid print ads, promoting cheap booze and “sun-and-sex” holidays. That said, there was still a healthy mix of families visiting the resort.
A family holiday in Magaluf in 1990 was the classic British package holiday. It offered 3-star hotels, sun-drenched sandy beaches, and a boisterous, neon-lit nightlife, with family-friendly bars such as Manos and Benny Hill’s. It was also the time when Pirates Adventure came to the fore. As a hot-day rep, it was my favourite excursion, and I sent hundreds of people there. Little did I know it would become the company I would eventually spend the next 30 years working for.
Like this year, 1990 was a World Cup year, when England came so close to reaching the final. World in Motion by New Order, featuring the iconic John Barnes rap, was released and became a massive hit. Other songs I remember include Step On by The Happy Mondays, Groove Is in the Heart by Deee-Lite, and U Can’t Touch This by MC Hammer.
A pint of lager cost around 200 to 300 pesetas, and a full English breakfast was between 350 and 500 pesetas. Yes, this was all before the euro even existed.
I lived through all the good times of the 1990s and early 2000s, but then it all started to go wrong. Magaluf was making headlines for all the wrong reasons.
Something had to change, and it did.
This transformation was driven by strict local legislation, hundreds of millions of euros in private investment, and a major push to improve the resort’s image and environmental footprint.
The new Magaluf was born – or, as it’s now known, Calvià Beach Resort.
It is no longer a resort dominated by the UK market. Instead, it has become far more cosmopolitan, with visitors arriving from all over the world.
More than 80% of the hotels are now four- and five-star properties. Brands such as Meliá, Fergus, and Globales have invested millions, helping to extend the tourist season and encouraging growth in the MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Exhibitions) sector.
Nikki Beach Mallorca has become the luxury anchor of Magaluf’s upscale transformation. Fashion brands such as Mango and Springfield, supermarket chains including Lidl and Aldi, and food and beverage names such as Five Guys and Starbucks are now all part of the resort’s growing fabric. Add to that the increasing number of bars, restaurants, beach clubs, and cafés run by local entrepreneurs, whose food, drinks, and customer service are second to none.
The beach is one of the finest urban beaches in Mallorca, having earned the prestigious Q for Tourist Quality flag. It has also been restored to a more natural state, complete with a dune system and palm trees. Through the new DTI (Smart Tourist Destination) project, the beach is now monitored in real time, allowing visitors to instantly check occupancy levels, water quality, and other useful information.
There’s also a new boardwalk, which has enhanced the range of leisure and dining options, significantly raised standards, and helped establish the resort as a Mediterranean benchmark for urban renewal.
The resort is home to some of the island’s leading family attractions, including Pirates Adventure, Western Water Park, and Katmandu Park.
Mallorca Live Festival, held on the outskirts of Magaluf, has established itself as one of Europe’s must-visit music festivals. This year, more than 70,000 people attended over three days to see artists including The Prodigy, Kaiser Chiefs, and David Guetta. Next year, the festival celebrates its 10th anniversary, with the dates of 11th and 12th June already in the diary.
Sports tourism has also grown significantly, with the state-of-the-art athletics stadium leading the way in welcoming athletes from around the world.
Magaluf still offers a fantastic nightlife; it’s simply become that little bit more sophisticated. BCM has consistently been ranked among the world’s leading nightclubs by DJ Mag and Nightlife International. It focuses heavily on EDM, house, trance, hip-hop, and R&B, and has welcomed world-renowned artists such as Calvin Harris, David Guetta, Steve Aoki, and Martin Garrix.
Probably one of the greatest achievements by the local authorities has been the improvements in safety and security. In recent years, the number of complaints during the high season has fallen by around 30% – a steady improvement backed up by Local Police data.
Magaluf has changed and, in my opinion, changed for the better. Granted, it’s not the same resort I first arrived in back in 1990. But times change, and Magaluf has evolved into a high-quality destination that now attracts visitors from the four corners of the world.
Quite a lot of people thought that the increase in teams at the World Cup would mean more boring games and that the smaller nations would struggle to get results. Happily, I’m pleased to say that, so far, that has not been the case. Granted, Germany thrashed Curaçao 7-1, but when the minnows equalised in the 21st minute to make the score 1-1, I was jumping off my sofa.
Probably the best example so far of a smaller team holding their own against a larger nation was Spain v Cape Verde last Monday. Remember, I picked Spain as my favourites to win the competition last week. I should have said that they are slow starters and normally grow into a tournament. Let’s hope I’m not wrong!
Cape Verde, or Cabo Verde, is located 500km off Africa’s west coast and is a ten-island archipelago with an estimated population of 520,500 residing on nine of those islands. People talk more about it as a holiday destination than as a hotbed of football, so in reality they shouldn’t have stood a chance.
Spain are the current European champions, with 15 members of their squad having won a trophy this past season, and in Lamine Yamal they have a possible Player of the Tournament.
In the game itself, Spain unsurprisingly dominated, completing over 800 passes and registering 27 shots at goal. Unfortunately for La Roja, they came up against a goalkeeper who had an absolute worldie.
I guarantee that nobody out there had heard of the Cape Verde goalkeeper, Josimar José Évora Dias, widely known by his nickname, Vozinha, before the game. But you can be sure millions do now. He is 40 years of age and plays in the Portuguese second division for a team called Chaves. His performance saw him pull off a string of outstanding saves that totally frustrated the Spanish team. Before the game, as I said above, he was a complete unknown with 20,000 followers on Instagram. At the time of writing, just three days later, he now has 13 million followers! Luckily for Spain, Uruguay and Saudi Arabia, who are in the same group, drew their game too, so it’s all to play for. I still expect Spain to come through as group winners. Next up for Spain is Saudi Arabia on Sunday at 18:00.
From Spain’s frustration we move to England’s exhilaration. Sixty years of hurt, and every tournament we hope it’s going to be our turn. My whole lifetime, as I was born in 1966, we’ve suffered countless heartbreaks. That’s why I said last week that my heart says the winners will be England, while my head says it will be Spain. But in Thomas Tuchel, England have a ruthless winner who has, without doubt, been brought in to win the competition. Croatia have delivered some of those heartbreaks in the past. In 2007 they knocked us out in the qualifiers for the European Championships, and in 2018 they beat us in the semi-finals of the World Cup in Russia.
The first half on Wednesday night was a mirror image of how England normally perform. There were flashes of great attacking ability, with Kane scoring twice, but they were let down by some poor defending. It was a great game for the neutral, but for us England fans, as usual, it was nerve-racking. We went into half-time all square at 2-2.
Without doubt, Tuchel gave the team a rocket at half-time, and they produced a stunning second-half performance. Jude Bellingham silenced his critics with a barnstorming run and finish to make it 3-2. Then, in the closing moments, substitutes Saka and Rashford combined to make it 4-2 and complete a very satisfying second-half performance.
A great start for England, but let’s keep a lid on the celebrations and simply be happy that we’ve started well. There’s a long way to go yet, but it’s certainly a promising start.
Next up for England is Ghana next Tuesday at 22.00.
The FIFA World Cup is upon us and, as ever, Panini has marked the occasion with a sticker album featuring the players of all 48 competing nations. The tournament, hosted by Canada, Mexico and the United States, kicked off in Mexico City last week and concludes in East Rutherford on July 19.
The first World Cup I can remember was in 1974 in Germany, when the host nation defeated Holland 2-1. It was also the time I was introduced to Panini and its sticker albums. I think the album came free with a magazine called Shoot!, a football magazine, of course, that I bought religiously every week. They used to throw in a couple of free packs to get you going and whet your appetite.
I remember going to school with a mountain of stickers I already had in order to swap them with other boys. The playground was full of boys shouting, “Got it, got it, got it, need it!” When you got to a “need it”, you then had to negotiate with the boy who had the sticker you needed. This is where you found out who the budding salesmen were and who you could do an easy deal with.
“I’ll swap you these 30 cards for that Peter Lorimer card.”
There were certain cards that were so difficult to get hold of that, if you wanted to fill your album, the more desperate you became. I remember that Peter Lorimer, of Scotland and Leeds fame, was one of those rare cards. The packets used to cost 3-4p and each contained four stickers, while there were 400 stickers to collect.
Panini, of course, weren’t daft. They obviously didn’t print the same number of stickers for each player, making you spend more to finish your album. An unopened pack of stickers from 1974 can fetch between £80 and £150 at auction, while a completed album can sell for anywhere between £500 and £1,500.
Now, the kids — and big kids — of today have begun collecting stickers of their favourite players, including those of England and Scotland, in a bid to complete the album.
Each packet of seven stickers costs collectors £1.25, and there are almost a thousand in total to find.
The thought of completing the set prompted one England fan to calculate how much the task could cost. And brace yourself, because it’s a lot.
The fan explained that this year’s tournament is the biggest ever, featuring countries that have never qualified before, including Uzbekistan, Cape Verde, Curaçao and Jordan. And, of course, more nations means more stickers.
“Each team has 20 stickers, so 48 times 20 equals 960 stickers just for the teams,” the fan continued. “And then there are a few extras, such as the official emblem — ones you’re not actually interested in but need to collect — and then there’s a history section, so all in all there are another 20, making 980 stickers in total.”
The fan then calculated that £1.25 packets, divided by seven, work out at 17.8p per sticker. So, presuming the collector miraculously obtains no duplicates, 980 unique stickers would cost around £175.
Writing in response, one former collector said: “The last time I got one of these was in 1990. I didn’t even have half the book filled, and I was getting more duplicates than stickers I needed. I didn’t have anyone to swap with like you would at school. There is no way you are filling that for less than a grand.”
Football finance expert Kieran Maguire, meanwhile, claims that completing the sticker album is likely to cost much more.
“At an estimated price of £2 for seven Panini stickers for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, it works out at approximately £2,030 to fill the 980-sticker album unless you swap with other collectors,” he said on X.
Without doubt, it’s as great a money-maker for Panini today as it was when I was at school. Luckily for me, my two boys have grown out of the habit.
There are 48 countries competing in this year’s World Cup finals in the USA, Canada and Mexico, so trying to find a winner has become more difficult than ever. Although only eight nations have ever lifted the Trophy: Brazil (5), Italy (4), Germany (4), Argentina (3), France (2), Uruguay (2), England (1) and Spain (1).
You would probably deduce that the winner will come from one of these teams. However, I’m going to add one dark horse that may have a chance, and that is Portugal.
Italy, somewhat surprisingly, did not qualify, so that rules them out. I can’t make a case for Uruguay and, although they always seem to do well in tournament football, I’m ruling out Germany as well. Brazil have a coach in Carlo Ancelotti who is widely considered to be one of the most successful and decorated football managers in history, holding several unmatched milestones across European and international football. However, I don’t think his team is good enough.
That leaves Argentina, France, England and Spain. Interestingly, if the results go the way the experts predict, these will be the four semi-finalists.
My heart will always say England and, in Thomas Tuchel, we have an elite manager. But after 60 years of hurt, I still can’t see us getting over the line.
Argentina are the holders, and their coach, Luis Scaloni, lives in Mallorca. However, Messi is well past his best and I can’t see them retaining their crown.
So that leaves France and Spain. It’s very difficult to separate these two, but if I really had to choose, I’m going for my adopted country, Spain.
The current European champions have a team full of winners who, importantly, won’t be fazed by the heat. When I say winners, I mean players who have been successful in their domestic leagues this season and should be bringing that form into the World Cup.
Raya, Merino and Zubimendi all won the Premier League with Arsenal. García, Torres, Gavi, Olmo, Yamal, Pedri and Cubarsí all won La Liga with Barcelona. Ruiz won Ligue 1 and the Champions League with PSG. Rodri won the League Cup and FA Cup with Manchester City. Oyarzabal won the Copa del Rey with Real Sociedad, and finally, Pino won the Conference League with Crystal Palace.
That’s 15 players out of a squad of 26 who have already won something this season.
The most surprising thing about the Spanish team is that there is not one player from Real Madrid. You can understand why, as they haven’t won anything in the last two seasons.
The goalkeeping position will be interesting, as all three goalkeepers are world-class and it’s difficult to separate them. However, Spanish head coach Luis de la Fuente heavily favours Unai Simón as his undisputed first-choice goalkeeper. Despite stellar seasons and Golden Glove awards for David Raya (Arsenal) and Joan García (Barcelona), De la Fuente has consistently backed Simón, the starter from Spain’s UEFA Euro 2024 triumph.
The defence could well be their weak link, in my opinion, but their midfield and attack are outstanding. In Lamine Yamal, Barcelona have a genuine star who could become the player of the tournament.
Barring injuries, I expect them to line up in a 4-3-3 formation:
Goalkeeper: Unai Simón (Athletic Bilbao)
Defence: Marcos Llorente (Atlético Madrid), Aymeric Laporte (Al Nassr), Pau Cubarsí (Barcelona) and Marc Cucurella (Chelsea)
Midfield: Rodri (Manchester City), Pedri (Barcelona) and Fabián Ruiz (PSG)
Forwards: Lamine Yamal (Barcelona), Mikel Oyarzabal (Real Sociedad) and Nico Williams (Athletic Bilbao)
Whilst I would love the Three Lions to roar again, my tip is for La Roja to be triumphant on the 19th of July.
Dad Taxi Mallorca 