Fans’ Selection cards are back to create a band new vintage
We've decided to bring back the nineties with our brand new range of Fans' Selection Card. They're back, after all this time!
Ahh the ‘90s... the Spice Girls were obliterating the charts, curtains were the in vogue haircut, and the Premier League was beginning to change the way we thought about football.
When you look back on the era which (arguably) gave us the most progression in terms of English football, you can’t help but come over all nostalgic.
Footy in the '90s
The sepia-toned filter comes on and you start to hear echoes of Kevin Keegan telling us how much he’d “love it!” if his high-flying Newcastle team managed to beat Sir Alex Ferguson’s United charges to the 1995/’96 Premier League title… only for them to surrender a 12-point lead at the top and wind up finishing four points behind Ferguson’s side.
More tasty episodes from the era included Blackburn winning the title, Eric Cantona’s ‘kung-fu kick’ and a fresh-faced David Beckham scoring from the halfway line. Plus, who could forget little Michael Owen dazzling the Argentines in the Quarter-final of the 1998 World Cup. But we forget how that game ended.
But, more importantly, pack after pack of Futera Fans’ Selection cards were adorning the swelling shelves of UK retail giant Woolworths.
For those whose vintage doesn’t span far enough back to recall ‘Woolies’, this place was an Aladdin’s cave of wonders. Here you could buy anything from pick‘n’mix sweets through to garden rakes and school uniforms to, well... football cards.
Now that you’re all caught up on ‘90s high street vendors, we suppose you should catch up on what Futera was doing in that era.
What are Fans' Selection Cards?
Did you know… back in the ‘90s Futera signed Licences with 12 English Premier League and Championship Clubs including Manchester United, Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea, Leeds, Newcastle, Aston Villa… to name but a few, producing a range of football merch including trading cards, stickers, albums, ‘phonecards, framed sets and even combining Chupa Chups lollipops with their football cards to create ‘Total Football’ packs!
From the late 1990s and into the 2000s, Futera created a foil pack release called ‘Fans’ Selection’ for each of its Licensor Clubs featuring in-game imagery on the front and distinctive player biographies on the back. It wouldn’t have been uncommon in those days to see boxes of perhaps three or four different Clubs’ Fans’ Selection cards sitting side by side on the counters of your local grocery store!
Fans’ Selection renaissance...
With the hobby of card collecting experiencing a renaissance in what has been an evolving trading card boom, we thought collectors might enjoy seeing these old favourites back in the Futera starting line-up.
However, this time round, sets will be created as super-rare, Limited Edition cards with each card being individually foil-numbered # to 20 or less, and averaging 2mm board thickness. Another point of difference from the ‘90s cards will be the inclusion of player memorabilia featured in one of the designs.
The first cards to release will be a ‘World Football’ set featuring international stars from around the world, and we look forward to bringing you news of which clubs the Fans’ Selection cards will be released for in the coming weeks.
In the meantime, make sure you look out for:
The Stars - modern players
Heroes - legend players
Future Star - young players
Dream Team - Memorabilia cards
‘1 of 1’ Awesome Strikes - legendary goals from legendary players
Cards will be sold in packs of 3 (each card being protected by a soft-sleeve and enclosed in a Toploader) - a must-have piece of merch for any footy card collector.
The faces, clubs and stockists (sigh) may have changed, but the excitement remains the same.
It’s a delightful piece of juxtaposition to be able to say that the best of the ‘90s are returning with this brand new range of Fans’ Selection cards creating a new-wave nostalgia. We can’t wait to see them! But you don't have to wait, check out our World Football set now.
Until next time,
Tom
