FINISHED: 2001/02 English Base Set

Well after 7 years I have completed my first set of Football Champions.  I'm very happy to finally have collected a set of soccer cards that have been available for over 10+ years and most likely will sit on my shelf to collect dust.  But I did finally defeat my procrastination habits having only needed 14 foils to finish the set, a number which had stayed the same for the last 6 years.

Below are three of the cards that helped finish my set:

Does such a person exist?

I've been trying to collect Football Champions since around 2007. I played the game in a hotel in Upstate New York against 3 total strangers whom I had just met for the first time in my life. Might Ipswich Town v Spurs. I of course was Ipswich and won on a headed goal by Mark Venus. From that point on I needed some of these cards.

That is where the downfall began. I started to collect these cards. It is now six years after this expensive decision was made and I still feel no closer than I did in 2007. I find out about cards I didn't know existed every few months. But that just makes the chase even greater.

My goal like any collector was to have all of the cards ever printed and to acquire them as soon as possible. I don't know why I have this tendency to get everything as fast as possible. Naturally I blame my american upbringing for that.

I then wondered if anyone out there has every Football Champions card ever made. I've seen some people have impressive cards but I really wonder if anyone has achieved the feat of owning every card. So if you come across this place and do, post a comment.

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 While this little map pictured above is pretty outdated (Eastern Europe) that is not the matter at hand.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.

The Search for Football Champions, Part 2!

Everything else:

Outside of Ebay, there aren't too many options to find Football Champions on the net. The best bet for an American is to go to each country's Google and search in their pages (under the search bar you can change options).

England:

psi-soft.co.uk

You can buy every 2001-2002 Base set card. The rares are a bit over priced for my liking, but if you really want that Paul Ince for £3.98, then be my guest.

France:

UltraJeux.com

Starters and boosters from the Base set here. The boosters drop in price when you pick up 24 or more (1 Euro to .75 Euro). Shipping makes up half the overall purchase cost though.

Italy:

lppcollecting.it

The most interesting website. Usually when reading Italian, I can understand the main points, however here, I'm totally lost. I don't know if the website has the product I want to purchase. Prices are a bit steep here, and with my lack of understanding of the website, I dare not even try to find out shipping cost. I'll cover this website in a later blog post.

cardgame-club.it

My personal favorite. They have everything and it's real cheap. Other than insane shipping, this is the best website in the world for Football Champions. Only one problem, they (or the person running this website) does not ship to America. In an email with them at the start of 2008, they said to check back in a few months because their website will have changed and shipping to America will happen. I checked back, website didn't change, still no shipping to America. I don't know if they just don't ever intended to ship to America, but the moment they do, cardgame-club will get a nice sum of my bank account.

I guess it's time to send cardgame-club.it another email.

And this is where my search ends. I have never been able to find more resources on the internet for this game. If you stumble across this blog and have another website with FC, I'll post it. Or, if you have cards and want to try and make a deal, I'd be interested in that.

The Search for Football Champions

Part of the fun is trying to find the cards to complete your collection. Ultimately, this is the utmost goal of any collector. While many collector's are able to find what they want, with Football Champions, it's nearly impossible for the American collector. So where does a person go?

Ebay:

Let me get this out of the way first, American Ebay is useless. Unless you want some T-shirts of Alabama, Florida, or people who love Brett Favre, you aren't finding shit. Although, there was one auction two years ago (2008) in which a guy from Washington (the state) put up a huge lot of Football Champions cards. The bidding ended around $100. Three people outbid each other. At the time of bidding, nobody knew who the others were. An hour later, I found out that the two others were from the same chats I had mentioned prior (sorry Alex and Chris). Just a quick note, if you do try this method, change your search method to "Worldwide".

The United Kingdom's Ebay is somewhat similar. While you will have to sift through plenty of Champions League items and Liverpool 2005 kits, at least your search will provide some return. Starter Sets, Booster Boxes, and Complete Sets all from the 2001-2002 set can be found. Starter Sets are the easiest to be found and usually start around £.99. Booster Boxes which can be found from time to time (read: once every two weeks) and are priced around £4.99. Complete sets are the rarest of them all and have been priced around £24.99. I have never come across the 2002-2003 Subbuteo set. I'm still waiting on that. The rarest of all cards are the English promotional cards from the 2001-2002 set. I've only seen two (Kinsella, Ole Gunnar).

France's Ebay is outright garbage. It's hard to navigate and nothing like the normal Ebay (US, UK, Italy). I haven't seen one auction for Football Champions since early 2009. That lot also went for around $90 to my friend Alex. If you are looking for Football Champions, don't bother with this version of Ebay.

And finally, Ebay Italia. The best place (and most expensive) to find Football Champions...at least for Ebay(s). Starter sets of all years can be found between 3-15 Euros. Boxes range anywhere from 20-45 Euro. Promotional cards (all years) can be found here (8-15 euros). Single packs also are starting to pop up as of this blog entry, but if you don't live in Italy or Europe, you aren't going to be able to buy them. By far the best part about this Ebay is this card:

Favorite player. One of the rarest cards ever made. I would love to aquire this somehow. BUT, I will not pay 109 Euros, sorry La-Fummetteria-It. If you somehow stumble on this blog, I'd gladly trade you some 2001-2002 promos in exchange for the Del Piero.