World Cup sticker fever grips Chile despite team's failure to qualify

Fans across Chile are gripped by World Cup sticker album fever ahead of the 2026 tournament — despite the national team failing to qualify. Collectors gather in Santiago to swap and buy stickers, with queues forming outside Panini's official shop, where albums cost $4.40 and packets of seven stickers $1.25. The craze has also sparked a cross-border trade, with vendors buying stickers cheaply in Chile and reselling them in Argentina, where counterfeit stickers are also emerging.

Al Jazeera's Lucia Newman reports from Santiago, Chile.

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