Savo

Partizan Legend.

Zidane Promo...is it real?

I haven't searched for Football Champions cards in quite sometime. Blame it on the economy, lack of extra cash, nobody to play the game with, or the fact that some of the cards have sold for unreal amounts of money. Want to buy a French player foil not named Zidane, Henry, or Pires, better pull out at least $20 American Dollars.

Henry and Pires, hah, about $40.

Zizou? How about $250 American Dollars. I was willing to spend $40. Since the first auction of Zidane's 2001 card, another had sold for roughly the same amount. Unopened boxes sold for less than a third of that (if you could find them).

With all of that said, an auction has come up on Italy's Ebay for a "promo" Zidane.

Link:

Juve's team from that year was already loaded with talent, but add Zidane, best team ever in Football Champions.

However, I feel this could be a fake card. My reasons:


He's in his Juve shirt. I really want to believe back in late 2000 many Zidane cards were being printed (and holographed) to be included in the striped kits. But I can't. It's too good to be true, being able to play with Zizou and Del Piero both with the Bianconeri (and Davids too!).


Bottom of this card is all wrong. No card from this era of Football Champions ever listed a year. this is something that was reserved for the Showdown Sports games in America. Even though the card is being sold as a promo/prototype, the card set is wrong. Italian Base Set had 230 cards, Calciomercato had 100. Zidane would have been in the base, and unless the creators had something against Zambrotta and Zenoni, Zizou would have been behind both players.

Somehow, this card has made it Stateside with zero Football Champions collectors finding out? Apparently there was a Football Champions tournament and this card was won from the Italian Manager of FC (what??). I want to play in a Football Champions tournament. Many people probably don't still collect this game, but the few out there I know of are very compassionate and dedicated, even crazy (myself included).

Zidane's chart and point cost are completely wrong. I highly doubt Zidane would have been rated this low, unless everyone else in the game was going to be 5 and lower in all skill categories. Very much reminds of the 2001 Christian Viera Inter error card, which sells for a good amount. Or was Christian an early prototype that should have never made it to the public....hmm...nahhhh.

Either way, fake (read: cash grab) or not, it's a cool card of what could have been.

Shame it's probably fake.

Not Dead.

When I decided nearly 6 years ago to purchase some English Football Champions cards. Really, all I wanted was Spurs cards. I then found out the game was made in two other countries. My "must collect every card" phase turned on instantly. I started collecting and made a small dent in nearly every countries card sets. Later come to find each country had promotional cards...which I still am not sure how many are out there.

Fast forward to 2011, and I'm basically in the same place I've been for the last 3 years. Unable to find a place to purchase French and Italian cards (that will ship to United States). I check usually every few days for new stores that will ship/Ebay sellers in Italy that will ship to United States all to no avail.

And finally, I receive an email about a Zizou listing that will ship to United States. Not only that but the seller has a few other cards I'm very interested in. Much appreciated for the email tip!

If you come across this blog and have any cards or are interested in acquiring some cards, email me or post a comment. Chances are, if you post a comment I won't get to it for awhile, email might be the best route.

Zizou...

I do not believe that Football Champions really produced a Zidane card. And not just card, cards. Supposedly there are two of them. I've luckily came across a box of French Pour Le Titre a few years back and busted it hoping I'd get Zizou. No luck. Speaking of no luck, I waited awhile to purchase a bunch of French Base cards from one of the French sites and now they are all gone.

Constantly searching all Ebay sites for Zidane over the last 3 years hasn't helped the cause. I don't expect to ever find Zidane. In fact, I don't even know what either card looks like.

If you happen to read this blog, or come across it somehow, please post a photo of the card. It could be 10 years from now if you come across this, still post the photo or email me. I'd appreciate it.

Until then, Zidane's card(s) do not exist to me.

Italia....

The above picture is of the lovely country Italy. One day I hope to travel to your beautiful country and catch plenty of Football in Turin, Florence, Milan (NOT INTER), and Rome. That and purchase EVERY FOOTBALL CHAMPIONS CARD I FIND. While this little map pictured above is pretty outdated (Eastern Europe) that is not the matter at hand. My issue is with of course their exports. Let's start with what Italy is known for.

Italy is famous for .pizza, wine, fashion, chapels and the Vatican, and last but not least Football Champions.

All of those items have been greatly exported and shared throughout the world, except for Football Champions. Look, I know America isn't a soccer nation. Trying to collect a card game that has been dead for nearly 5 years is a bit maddening. However, when Ebay Italy has plenty of sellers who offering good products it is nice to see. BUT, none of them want to ship internationally. It is so frustrating to see all these cards I'd love to have but not be able to purchase them due to ONLY SHIPPING WITHIN YOUR STUPID BOOT SHAPED COUNTRY. Seriously, is it really that hard to charge 10-20 Euros for International Shipping???

All I want is to get the complete YOGA Italy National Team Set, BOTH Del Piero Adidas Promos, and the Juventus Ibrahimovic. Come on Italy, help a guy out.

Update

This blog isn't dead. I haven't had time to check out anymore Football Champions items. Nothing new has been up on any of the Ebay websites (UK, Italy, France).

I was able to find out that card-game club would be willing to ship items to the United States, however in very limited quantities. Reason being the shop owner doesn't want to pay shipping. I don't think I really understand what they meant, usually the one buying the items pays shipping costs.

Also, there has been two people to contact me about trading...so if you are looking for cards, put up a comment on here or send me an email.

Football Champions Complete Spoiler

This is for the 2001-2002 seasons. All countries are included. All work is done by user J.L Robert (Football Champions expert). Go here to download the file:

Click.

A couple of notes about the spreadsheet:

ITBS- Italian Base Set

ITCM- Italian Calciomercato

ENBS- English Base Set

ENTR- English Title Race

FRBS- French Base Set

FRPT- French Pour Le Titre

The point breakdown is the most interesting topic, I believe. I hope to ask J.L. how he figured out the points as I'm very impressed by his work.