Football fans of all ages gathered in Miami Beach for a World Cup sticker trading event, exchanging duplicates and comparing Panini albums as they prepared for the tournament's opening match.
The event brought together collectors hoping to complete their albums before the FIFA World Cup kicks off on Thursday (11 June) in Mexico, one of the three co-host nations alongside the U.S. and Canada.
Participants flipped through well-used albums, sorted stacks of spare stickers and negotiated trades as children and adults searched for players still missing from their collections.
The gathering was hosted by Miami Beach Commissioner Monica Matteo-Salinas and centred on a ritual familiar to football supporters before major tournaments: finding fellow collectors, offering duplicates and moving one step closer to completing a full album.
Student Jhonatan Raimy described the event as an opportunity for collectors to meet in person and exchange stickers they no longer needed.
"So basically here, like, we got to find people to swap stickers with and try to get one step closer to finishing this whole sticker collection for the World Cup," Raimy said.
Reuters footage showed attendees working through albums and loose piles of stickers, with the search for specific players driving conversations around each trade.
The event came as excitement for the tournament continued to build across the host nations. Mexico is due to stage the opening match, while the U.S. and Canada will also host games during the competition.
The sticker exchange also highlighted how collecting has become a family activity during the World Cup, with parents and children searching for different players and sharing the excitement of filling empty spaces.
One attendee said the appeal lay both in completing the album and in finding favourite players.
"The excitement of filling up (the album). My kids say, 'I have a Cristiano Ronaldo,' or 'I have a Messi.' Well, they all want different ones. One wants Messi, the other wants Cristiano. They’re also happy when they get stickers they like," the attendee said.
Collectors continued trading as piles of stickers changed hands and conversations moved from one album page to the next.
With the tournament only days away, the Miami Beach event showed how sticker trading remains a social tradition for supporters preparing for football's biggest competition.
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