There are 92 League grounds in England and Wales, and the challenge is to see a game at each one.
1954/55 ~ General
New
This was A & BC's first set of cards to contain footballers. It was also the only set to have an associated album to stick the cards into.
1958/59 ~ League
Alternative Cards
A & BC issued 2 versions of the Planet set, their first to feature only football players.
1959/60 ~ League
1960/61 ~ League
1961/62 ~ League
1962/63 ~ League
1963/64 ~ League
1964/65 ~ League
1964/65 ~ League
New
Each individual card was made up of two smaller cards with a perforation down the middle. So 110 cards showed 220 players
1966 ~ World Cup England 1966
New
Although this was a pre-printed book, rather than a card or sticker set, this first publication by FKS followed the same style as their subsequent card and sticker sets. The cover picture was used on all bar one of their World Cup albums.
1967/68 ~ League
New
This was FKS's first card album and was only sold in newsagents in the North of England.
1968/69 ~ League
Similar Cards
The FKS album was very similar to the previous season's and was sold all over England.
1969/70 ~ League
1970 ~ World Cup Mexico 70
New
This was Panini's first football card album to be sold in Britain.
1970/71 ~ League
1971/72 ~ League
New
Top Sellers used Panini to produce their albums, which were released in January to tie in with the calendar year rather than a season.
1972/73 ~ League
1973/74 ~ League
1974 ~ World Cup Munich 74
New
Munich 74 was the first collection of stickers rather than cards.
1974/75 ~ League
End of an Era
This was the last card set issued by A & BC as they were bought out by Topps in 1975.
1975 ~ General
1975/76 ~ League
New
This was the first set of football cards issued in Britain by Topps, effectively taking over from A & BC.
1976/77 ~ League
1977 ~ General
1977/78 ~ League
New
Panini decided to start producing their own annual sticker set and album rather than producing one for Top Sellers.
1978 ~ World Cup Argentina 78
1978/79 ~ League
1979/80 ~ League
1980 ~ Europa 80 Italy
New
This was Panini's first set dedicated to a European Championship.
1980/81 ~ League
1981/82 ~ League
End of an Era
This was the last card set issued by Topps in the UK for a decade. It was the first one to have an associated album since A & BC's 'All Sports' set in 1954. This was also the last domestic set issued by FKS following an unbroken run of 15 seasons, leaving the way clear for Panini to dominate the market.
1982 ~ World Cup Spain 82
End of an Era
These were the final two sets issued by FKS.
1982/83 ~ League
1983/84 ~ League
New, and Last
The Quadriga album followed the FKS format but only lasted this one season.
1983/84 ~ General
Alternative Cards
The Panini Football Superstars set was a re-issue of the 1981 album, with a Scotland page and three extra England players.
1984 ~ Euro 84 France
1984/85 ~ League
1985/86 ~ League
1986 ~ World Cup Mexico 86
1986/87 ~ League
1987/88 ~ League
1988 ~ Euro 88 West Germany
1988/89 ~ League
New
This was the first sticker album set issued by Topps. It was a tie-in with TV pundits / ex-players Ian St John and Jimmy Greaves. The sticker backs formed 6 different jigsaws.
1989/90 ~ League
New
This was Merlin's first sticker set.
1989/90 ~ General
1990 ~ World Cup Italia 90
1990/91 ~ League
New
This was Merlin's first card set and Pro-Set also issued the first of their three card sets.
End of an Era
This was the last time Panini featured the Scottish top division in its albums as it started producing separate English and Scottish sets.
1991/92 ~ League
1992 ~ Euro 92 Sweden
1992/93 ~ League
End of an Era
This was Panini's last Premier League album until 2019. The 'Football' albums started by Top Sellers in 1972 had run for 22 seasons.
A Return
Topps re-entered the UK football card scene with the Stadium Club set of cards that celebrated previous A & BC and Topps card sets on the back.
1993/94 ~ League
New
Merlin won exclusive rights to issue cards featuring Premier League players in their kits.
1994 ~ World Cup USA 94
Alternative cards
Panini issued different versions of the USA 94 album in different countries.
1994/95 ~ League
New
With Panini losing the Premier League licence, they issued an album featuring every Football League club instead. With Merlin issuing a Premier League set, it meant all four top divisions of English football were represented across the two albums.
1995/96 ~ League
Buy Out
Topps bought Merlin in 1995 but continued to use the Merlin name on most of their sets until 2008.
Sneaky
Panini issued the 'Players' set featuring Premier League players through a deal with the PFA. The players were not allowed to wear anything related to the Premier League.
1996 ~ Euro 96 England
Alternative cards
Panini held the exclusive rights to feature players in their country's kit but Topps may have missed this during their purchase of Merlin. They duly went ahead with a set with the players in full kit, only to have to completely reissue the set with unbranded kits when Panini complained.
1996/97 ~ League
New
Topps settled on 'Premier Gold' as the name for their card sets.
1997/98 ~ League
1998 ~ World Cup France 98
Hard to Find
Panini didn't issue the Iran cards for their France 98 album until the following year on printed sheets in different countries. Three England players were also missed out of packs in the UK.
1998/99 ~ League
New
Topps released a sticker set at the beginning of the season for the first time.
Hard to Find
Premier Gold 99 was only issued in Scandinavia.
New
Topps introduced the idea of issuing update sets towards the end of a season.
1999/2000 ~ League
New
The Superstars album was the first credited to Topps, although it advertised the Merlin 2000 album inside.
2000 ~ Euro 2000 Belgium & The Netherlands
Confusing
Topps had the rights to use the England badge and kit, Panini the other countries bar Spain for their Euros 2000 collection.
2000/01 ~ League
New
In a gradual move towards dropping the Merlin name, Topps issued the Premier Gold sets under their own name for three seasons.
2001/02 ~ League
Alternative Cards
Topps and Nestle issued pretty much the same set of mini-cards, although Nestle's were issued in both regular and foil versions.
2002 ~ World Cup 2002 Korea & Japan
2002/03 ~ League
2003/04 ~ League
New
Magic Box Int tried their luck at issuing a card set for three seasons.
2004 ~ Euro 2004 Portugal
2004/05 ~ League
Name Change
Topps renamed their annual 'Premier Gold' collection 'Premier Stars' for two seasons.
2005/06 ~ League
2006 ~ World Cup 2006 Germany
New
This was the first Match Attax set issued by Topps. The cards were shaped so they could slot together when playing the game. Panini also experimented with a card set in a binder for the first time.
2006/07 ~ League
Changes
This was Magic Box's last collection and Panini's first domestic set since 1998.
2007/08 ~ League
New
This was the first domestic Match Attax set issued by Topps.
2008 ~ Euro 2008 Austria & Switzerland
2008/09 ~ League
2009/10 ~ League
2010 ~ World Cup 2010 South Africa
S
New
This was Panini's first Adrenalyn XL card set to be issued.
2010/11 ~ League
2011/12 ~ League
New
With the Match Attax format proving popular, Topps issued a set containing all 24 teams in the Championship for the first time.
2012 ~ Euro 2012 Poland and Ukraine
Alternative Cards
The International version of the Panini 2012 Adrenalyn collection contained different pictures for the England players to the UK one. It also featured some different players in both the England and Ireland squads.
2012/13 ~ League
2013/14 ~ League
Alternative Cards
Topps started issuing 'parallel' cards - the same as those in the base set, but with different colour backgrounds, making the complete set huge and annoyingly difficult to complete.
2014 ~ World Cup 2014 Brazil
New
Issued in 2013, this was Panini's first 'Road to' set, issued a year in advance of a tournament. The England player cards were different in the UK and International sets.
2014/15 ~ League
2015/16 ~ League
2016 ~ Euro 2016 France
New
Issued in 2015, this was Panini's first 'Road to' sticker set, but it wasn't issued in the UK.
2016/17 ~ League
2017/18 ~ League
2018 ~ World Cup 2018 Russia
2018/19 ~ League
End of an Era
With Topps losing the Premier League licence to Panini, this was the last Premier League Match Attax set issued (for now).
New
The On Demand series was issued in the US but Topps made some available online in their UK store.
End of an Era
With Panini taking over the Premier League licence, this could well be the last set issued under the Merlin name.
2019/20 ~ League
New
Panini released this set of stickers and a tabloid-style newspaper to stick them in to celebrate getting the Premier League licence. The set is a summary of the 2018/19 season.
A Return
This was Panini's first official Premier League album since 1993. They also started issuing cards under their Adrenalyn XL banner. In fact Panini started issuing way more sets than the average collector could keep up with. This included Impeccable Premier League Soccer, Chronicles, Obsidian and Prizm, all with multiple variations and built in rarities. With over 8500 cards in the Prizm set alone it's unclear who the sets are aimed at. We're going to simply ignore them for now.
2020/21 ~ League
2021 ~ Euro 2020
Delayed
Covid delayed this tournament for a year but the Preview set had already been issued in 2020.
2021/22 ~ League
New
Panini released the Score set for the first time, with 200 Base cards and lots of extras and variations. The issue for collectors is that to collect the extras you have to buy loads of packets, usually a box at a time, meaning you end up with lots of copies of the Base cards. So a set of 200 Base cards currently sells for 20GBP on eBay as there are simply so many of them out there. Panini and Topps have changed the mindset of collecting now to be a needle in a haystack hunt for the cards that are designed to be rare. Great for them, but feels like a bubble that will eventually burst.
2022 ~ Nations League 2022
New
Topps marked the second iteration of the new European Nations League with both a card and sticker set. Due to the large number of countries involved, the sticker set just focused on two or three players from each one in categories like X-Factor and Dribbler. The Match Attax set contained a base set and then an array of variations and limited editions.
2022 ~ World Cup 2022 Qatar
New
Despite an album always having a set number of spaces for stickers, Panini decided to issue several Limited Edition stickers in various colours with nowhere in the album to stick them. Just as Spotify now issues classic albums with extra tracks, Panini can't seem to stop issuing variations that go beyond the original concept. You can complete the album, but few will bother to complete the set.