Association football trading card

An association football trading card is a type of trading card relating to association football, usually printed on cardboard, silk, or plastic. These cards feature one or more players, clubs, stadiums, or trophies. Football cards are most often found in Europe, Asia and South America. Some notable producing companies include Panini Group (which has published cards of all FIFA World Cup since 1970 and has presence in more than 120 countries) and Topps (the UEFA Champions League, MLS and English Premier League). As earlier as 1887, John Baines started producing and selling die-cut football cards in the shape of shields of different football teams and featured generic players representing the teams. The earliest documented cigarette football card appears to be issued from a cigarette brand called Field Favorites depicting Duncan MacLean of Liverpool F.C. However, the earliest cigarette association football cards from a known set are Billy Bassett and Charlie Athersmith from Godfrey and Phillips “General Interest” in 1896. Football cards were also produced circa 1896-1898 by the Marcus & Company Tobacco in Manchester, England. The set consisted of over 100 cards and was issued under the title of "Footballers & Club Colours". They featured illustrated images of players on the front of the card, and a tobacco advertisement on the back of the card. The tobacco companies soon realised that sports cards were a great way to obtain brand loyalty. Production of football cards spread over the United Kingdom. Other football sets issued at that time were released by other tobacco manufacturers such as Kinner (1898), Ogden's (1902), J.F. Bell (1902), F.J. Smith (1902), W.D. & H.O. Wills (1902), Percy E. Cadle (1904) and Singleton & Cole. One of the first full-colour sets was released in 1906 by Ogden's. The set of cards depicted illustrations of footballers in their club shirts. The set (properly named "Football Club Colours") featured clubs Everton, Aston Villa, Wolverhampton Wanders, Newcastle United, Blackburn Rovers, Middlesbrough, Tottenham Hotspur, Sheffield United and Arsenal.