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.

Andriy

This is one of the best forwards in any 2001-2002 Football Champions set. Having two 10's as pace and shot make Sheva hard to beat up front. Andriy's play at Euro 2012 was special to watch. He played fantastic for the Ukrainians and scored 2 in the opening game. Big shame he left Milan for Chelsea though.

French Promo Cards

A few months ago I made a fairly large trade with a good friend (Hi Alexandre!). We both had played MLB Showdown many years ago and he was having nostalgia come over him. Knowing I have wayyy more Showdown cards than anyone needs at this point in their life we decided to make a nice swap.

I received quite a large lot of Football Champions cards. Most of which were French cards along with some French scarves (Montpellier, Auxere, St. Etienne) and the beginning of my 2004/2005 Italian Sets. The most important part of the trade was acquiring French Promos.

Below are the cards I received:

Jesper

I don't really know why I enjoy Jesper Gronkjaer, but I do. I would always transfer him to whatever club I was managing in FIFA. Maybe I had an affinity for Danish players? More than likely I really just enjoyed his name.

His football champions card however is pretty pedestrian. At 116 points he isn't the most cost effective player. Sure his shot is an 8 but really that's about it. Star power should be higher, at least a 10.

Adidas Promos

I've not updated in quite some time (par for the course I guess). However I've acquired quite a few new Football Champions cards.

As you (does anyone read this?) may have guessed by the title I finally it my Adidas Italian Promos. I post in the group for Football Champions on Facebook and was linked to them off eBay. In a nice drunken haze I purchased both Trezeguet and Del Piero without even looking at the prices. $40 and two weeks later I had my cards. Honestly I'm not the biggest Trez fan, however the Del Piero is the sexiest card ever. Now they currently sit in a binder which I look through once a month, maybe. Worthy purchase....of course!
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On another note, I've found two places that people actively trade for Football Champions cards. The first is a soccer card board:

http://s13.zetaboards.com/Football_Cards/topic/6847508/1/

The second is a group on Facebook simply titled "Football Champions". The group page's main image is the 2001-2002 Italian starter set. The only issue for the group is its entirely in Italian. However it's 2012 and with translators all over the place, it's a bit easier to try and trade.

I'll post more this time now that my phone can blog.

RIP

You left this world too soon.