Argentine plazas buzz with World Cup sticker trading fever

AI Summary

With the FIFA World Cup approaching, the plazas of Argentina are lively with a sticker trading phenomenon, as enthusiasts engage in collecting to complete their official stickerbooks. This pre-World Cup ritual has become a deep-rooted cultural event.

With just under a month until the FIFA World Cup kicks off, thousands of people are filling Argentine plazas strategizing to win a different game that has become a beloved part of the quadrennial competition: collecting and trading stickers to complete the official World Cup stickerbook. For more than half a century, Panini stickerbooks have been a treasured part of the World Cup experience, with schools, plazas and even offices becoming zones to barter for coveted rare stickers and duplicates laid out ready to be discarded.