Panini World Cup 2010 sticker album: full checklist, foils and how to finish it

Updated 27 September 2026 · by the Swappies team

The Panini FIFA World Cup 2010 album is the one many South Africans still have in a drawer: the sticker book for the tournament played in our own stadiums. It has 640 stickers, and the packets have long since left the shops, so finishing it today works differently from how it worked in 2010. This guide covers what is in the set and how to close the gaps.

The tournament behind the album

The 2010 FIFA World Cup ran from 11 June to 11 July 2010 and was the first World Cup held in Africa. Spain beat the Netherlands 1-0 after extra time in the final to win their first title. Panini's album covers the tournament as it was set up before a ball was kicked: all 32 qualified teams, plus the stadiums that hosted the matches.

What is in the set

The full checklist runs to 640 stickers, and it splits into two kinds:

596 standard stickers - the players, team photos and stadium pages that make up most of the book.
44 foils - the shiny stickers, including the team badges, the tournament emblems and a couple of specials.

The numbering has a quirk. As well as the ordinary numbers, there is a #00 Fair Play foil and a #000 Calciatori Panini foil, and collectors working from a plain numbered list can easily miss them. Our Panini World Cup 2010 checklist lists every number, including those two.

Which stickers are hardest to find now

Nobody can honestly tell you the print run of a 2010 sticker, so be wary of anyone who claims to know exactly which one is "the rarest". What we can say is what turns up least often in the collections we buy. The foils - badges, emblems and the Fair Play and Calciatori Panini stickers - are the ones collectors most often still need, along with a few of the big names: #122 Lionel Messi and #104 Karim Benzema are among the stickers we see least.

Part of that is simple: in 2010 plenty of children stuck their stars and foils straight into the album, or onto school books and bedroom doors. An unused Messi from 2010 has had more than fifteen years of chances to disappear.

Why the last stickers take so long

If every one of the 640 stickers were equally likely, you would expect to open about 4,500 stickers before you had all 640. The first 512 different stickers - 80% of the album - would take only around 1,030 of those. The last 128 would take roughly 3,480, because by then almost everything you open is a double.

That was true in 2010 when you could still buy packets. Today it matters even more, because the only packets left are old stock, and there is no way to "open your way" to the end. The sensible route is to count what you are missing and fill those numbers directly.

How to finish the album today

Start with a list. Go through the book page by page and write down every empty number. Remember #00 and #000.
Swap with friends and family. A lot of 2010 doubles are still sitting in shoeboxes. Ask around before you buy anything.
Buy the rest as singles. We sell individual stickers from this set - singles currently start from R15, with the scarcer foils costing more. Paste your missing numbers into the checklist and we show you which ones we have in stock, delivered to a PUDO locker anywhere in South Africa.
Sell your doubles together. We buy spare 2010 stickers too. Because you pay the postage to send them to us (about R49), we take sell offers from R100 - so gather your doubles and send one parcel.

Condition: what to look for

For a collectable album, an unused sticker still on its backing is what you want. Check the corners and edges for bends, look for creases across the face, and on foils look for scratches and cloudy patches. Stickers that have been peeled off a page and restuck rarely sit flat again.

If you are finishing a childhood album that is already half full, do not worry too much - stick the new ones in carefully, lined up with the printed frame, and press from the centre outwards to avoid air bubbles. Keep the finished book flat, out of direct sun, and away from damp; old albums tend to yellow and warp long before the stickers themselves fade.

Finish your Panini FIFA World Cup 2010 South Africa

Paste the numbers you are missing on the checklist and we add every one we have in stock - one order, delivered anywhere in South Africa.

Open the checklist Sell us your doubles