How completing the World Cup sticker book is like having a second job

Key developments are emerging from the global stage. How completing the World Cup sticker book is like having a second jobImage caption, Cataloguing swaps and needs has become "like a full-time job" for Sophie Madden and her sonBySophie MaddenWest MidlandsPublished6 hours agoMy name is Sophie, I'm a mum, and it's a little after midnight. My partner wants to turn off the light and go to sleep, but I'm still frantically typing on my phone. Is it work or family problems keeping me up late?

Instead, I'm in the middle of tense negotiations with a man called Jamie who lives in Bromley, almost 180 miles away from my Shropshire home. We are arranging a swap of 50 stickers for my son's 2026 Panini World Cup album. Filling it has become like a full-time job.

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While most people have been finishing work and sitting back to enjoy the group stages of the tournament, I am spending hours verifying our needs and arranging trades. I now fear stepping into the supermarket due to the cost sticker packs are adding to the weekly grocery shop. Image caption, Mixed emotions for Sophie and son surround the completion of the 2026 World Cup sticker bookSpeaking of cost, statisticians have suggested that trying to complete the set at retail alone - accounting for duplicates - will burn a £1,300 hole in your pocket.

That may be spare change if you're on a footballer's wage, but for plenty of households, that's an eye-watering sum and a complete non-starter. Knowing I cannot spend the equivalent of a family holiday on this mission, we need to look for other means. The 2026 tournament is the second to bring sticker madness to our home.

In 2022, I made what I now know to be a terrible error by helping my then seven-year-old son complete the Qatar book. It's meant that failure is not an option. But things aren't easy.

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Four years ago, we managed to finish by the opening match. This year, we only got the book in May, and so I felt behind before we even started. This tournament also has 980 different stickers to collect, compared with 670 for Qatar.

Image caption, Riding home from an in-person swap where Brazilian forward Vinicius Junior is secured. The first step is to create a catalogue of our wants - we're doing all right for Senegal, but our Tunisia page is looking particularly weak. As an experienced collector, I know the first place to look is social media.

After making a detailed database of our doubles, I join multiple swap groups on Facebook. I put up a post and messages come in so fast that I've arranged swaps for some of the stickers before I've even been able to read what other people are after. It is enough to generate seven exchanges and cover more than 200 of our needs.

The story has become one of the most prominent items on the global agenda.