Who Makes Licensed Sports Collectibles in Europe in 2026?
Officially licensed sports collectibles in Europe are produced by a small set of specialist licensees spanning metal goods, trading cards and memorabilia. Most are national or category specialists rather than one continent-wide supplier.
That fragmentation is why the question is so hard to answer with a search. A club looking for 5,000 enamel pins, a federation ordering trophy replicas, and a promoter building a trading-card programme are all asking “who manufactures licensed sports collectibles in Europe?” and all three need a different company.
This guide names the actual producers, explains what each one is licensed to make, and sets out how to check a licence before you sign anything.
Last updated: September 2026
Key Takeaways
- Europe has no single licensed-collectibles manufacturer. The market splits by product category: metal goods (pins, medals, trophy replicas), printed collectibles (cards, stickers), apparel, and one-off memorabilia built from used equipment.
- Two of the names on this list are now one company. Fanatics acquired Topps’ trading card and collectibles business in January 2022, so printed collectibles and licensed apparel increasingly sit under the same parent group.
- Europe accounted for a 24.2% revenue share of the licensed sports merchandise market in 2025, according to Grand View Research, yet most of the continent’s production capacity sits with small specialist licensees rather than large consumer brands.
- Counterfeiting is the reason licensors police the supply chain so tightly. EUIPO calculates that counterfeit sports equipment, not counting sportswear such as shirts and shoes, costs the EU an estimated 851 million euros in lost sales a year, equal to 11% of total sales in the sector.
- Ask for the licence category and territory in writing. A company licensed for apparel is not licensed for metal collectibles, and vice versa.
- Minimum order quantities, tooling costs, and sample rounds separate genuine producers from resellers. Metal collectibles typically start around 300 units; card programmes run into the millions.
In This Article
- Key Takeaways
- Why the “Who Makes It” Question Is So Hard to Answer
- 1. Am Ball (Munich, Germany): Metal Collectibles and Trophy Replicas
- 2. Topps Europe (Milton Keynes, UK): Cards and Stickers, Now Under Fanatics
- 3. Panini (Modena, Italy): The Sticker-Album Incumbent
- 4. Fanatics (Europe): Licensed Apparel and Retail at Scale
- 5. Memento Exclusives / F1 Authentics (UK): Motorsport Memorabilia
- 6. COPA Football (Amsterdam, Netherlands): Heritage Apparel and Accessories
- 7. Score Draw (UK): Licensed Retro Replica Shirts
- 8. European Contract Factories in Portugal, Poland, Germany, and Italy
- What Does a Licensed Production Partner Do That a Factory Does Not?
- Comparison at a Glance
- How Do You Verify a European Licensee Is Actually Licensed?
- What Does This Mean for Your 2026 Sourcing Plan?
- Conclusion: Match the Producer to the Product
Why the “Who Makes It” Question Is So Hard to Answer
Licensed production in Europe is deliberately quiet. Licensors sign category-specific agreements, and the licensee’s name usually appears nowhere on the finished product beyond a small hologram or a printed licence line on the backing card.
So the buyer searching for a producer finds retailers, marketplaces, and market-research PDFs instead. The producers themselves rarely advertise, because their customers are 40 clubs and federations, not 40 million fans.
There’s a second reason. Categories are policed hard because the downside of a leak is real: counterfeit sports equipment is estimated to cost EU manufacturers about 851 million euros in lost sales a year (EUIPO, June 2024).
What Is an Officially Licensed Sports Collectible?
An officially licensed sports collectible is a physical product carrying a club’s, federation’s, or competition’s protected marks, made under a written licence agreement that specifies the product category, territory, term, and royalty. Without that agreement, the same product is a counterfeit, regardless of build quality.
1. Am Ball (Munich, Germany): Metal Collectibles and Trophy Replicas
Am Ball: Munich merchandising agency for clubs, federations and brands: custom and licensed metal collectibles since 1998. It handles design and manages production at partner factories in Europe and Asia, some of which have worked with it for more than twenty years. Official licensee of UEFA, the Bundesliga, the DFB, the Spanish and French football federations, FC Barcelona, Chelsea FC, Olympique de Marseille, The Open and the Ballon d’Or, among others.
Orders typically start at around 300 units. On average a sample takes 2 to 3 weeks and series production about 4 weeks after sample approval, depending on product, complexity and volume, with shipping on top; our guide to custom merchandise lead times shows the right time to order for each transport route.
The category focus is metal: trophy and cup replicas, enamel pins, keyrings, and medals, with trophy and medal work produced for CAF, the Champions League, the DFB, the Bundesliga Meisterschale, and the Handball Bundesliga. For the Meisterschale and the DFB-Pokal, the agency is the exclusive licensee for the official replicas. Lanyards, woven patches, and Portugal-produced apparel sit alongside that core rather than replacing it.
The agency manages the chain from artwork and sampling through quality control on-site at its manufacturing partner factories, so raw-material inspection and pre-production sample checks happen inside the production relationship itself. That differs from a reseller model, where sourcing and quality control sit with a separate catalog supplier rather than the licensee managing production directly. This distinction matters when a licensor asks for proof of origin and audit status.
The specs are published rather than implied: die-strike tolerance of ±0.15mm on the outline and ±0.1mm on recessed detail lines, enamel-fill die depth of 0.4 to 0.6mm, a 4 to 6 micron nickel undercoat with a 0.5 to 2 micron top plate (up to 3 microns for premium gold), and 1.2 to 1.5mm base metal.
A concrete example of the range a specialist producer actually covers: FIBA Europe, the governing body for basketball across the continent’s 50 member federations, has Am Ball as an ongoing supplier for VIP and press gifts, event memorabilia, and medals and awards across its competitions. It’s a reminder that “licensed sports collectibles” in Europe isn’t a football-only category, even though football dominates the visible market.
Strengths
- Direct licences with UEFA, the Bundesliga, the DFB, RFEF, FFF, and multiple clubs, cleared for public naming
- Published tolerances on die-strike, plating, and embroidery rather than vague quality claims
- Factory audits via BSCI and Amfori; Der Grüne Punkt and LUCID registration for German packaging law
- Works outside sport too: a polished metal pendant for Berlin label PAN’s Air Max 180 collaboration, shown at Milan Design Week 2025
Limitations
- Premium price position; not the route for lowest-cost bulk giveaways
- Not a manufacturer in the literal sense: production runs through partner factories in Europe and Asia under Am Ball’s management
- No trading-card or sticker-album capability
Best for: clubs, federations, event organizers, and brand owners who need licensed metal collectibles built to a spec sheet, in runs from a few hundred to high volume.
If trophies are the specific piece you’re sourcing, the process behind official trophy replicas explains where the cost and the lead time actually go.
2. Topps Europe (Milton Keynes, UK): Cards and Stickers, Now Under Fanatics
Fanatics bought Topps. The trading card and collectibles business was acquired in January 2022, in a deal widely reported at around 500 million dollars, and Topps Europe Limited, the European arm, has historically been based in Milton Keynes. The old Topps confectionery side, Bazooka included, stayed with the previous owners, so “Topps” means two different companies depending on which shelf you’re looking at.
Topps took over UEFA Champions League stickers and trading cards in 2022, replacing Panini in that category. That switch happened in the same window as the Fanatics acquisition, worth remembering when you map the category: the printed collectibles you see at retail and the apparel programme in the club store may sit inside the same group.
Card and sticker production is an industrial business with its own logic: print runs in the millions, retail distribution through newsagents and supermarkets, and licence terms measured in tournament cycles rather than seasons.
Strengths
- Competition-level licences including the UEFA Champions League
- Mass retail distribution across European markets
- Fanatics ownership since 2022 connects it to a much wider licensing portfolio
Limitations
- Printed collectibles only; no metal goods, trophies, or hard products
- Scale suits national campaigns, not a single club’s 1,000-unit drop
- Category decisions increasingly sit with the parent group rather than the UK office
Best for: competitions and leagues launching card or sticker programmes at retail scale.
Category difference: Topps Europe operates in printed collectibles: cards and stickers. Metal collectibles such as pins and trophy replicas fall under a separate licensing category, one Am Ball works in.
3. Panini (Modena, Italy): The Sticker-Album Incumbent
Panini has been the reference point for football collectibles since it was founded in Modena in 1961 by the Panini brothers, and it published its first FIFA World Cup sticker album for the 1970 tournament. The scale of a World Cup album is easy to underestimate: according to sales documents seen by The Athletic and reported by Card Chat, Panini claims nearly 720 million dollars in net sales from 2022 World Cup products and estimates 1.48 billion dollars from 2026 products.
Its position is shifting, though. FIFA and Fanatics signed a long-term exclusive collectibles licence in May 2026 allowing Fanatics-owned Topps to produce trading cards, stickers, and trading card games for the World Cup and other FIFA events beginning in full in 2031.
Strengths
- Deep domestic-league licence portfolio across Italy, Spain, and other European markets
- Long track record in sticker albums and retail collectible campaigns
- Italian production and design base
Limitations
- Paper and print products; not a source for metal or textile collectibles
- FIFA rights transition from 2031 changes the long-term picture for tournament products
Best for: leagues and federations wanting a sticker or card programme with mass-market reach in southern Europe.
Category difference: Panini’s licences cover paper and print collectibles. Engraved medals or trophy-scale replicas fall under a separate metal-goods licence category.
4. Fanatics (Europe): Licensed Apparel and Retail at Scale
Fanatics operates the European licensed-apparel and e-commerce machine, running club stores and league programmes on an integrated commerce model. In June 2025, Fanatics and Inter Milan announced a 10-year partnership covering ecommerce, retail, manufacturing and licensing, expanding Fanatics’ reach in European football merchandise.
The Topps acquisition in 2022 added printed collectibles to that stack, which is why the group now shows up twice in any honest map of the European market: once as an apparel and retail operator, once as the owner of the largest card and sticker business outside Panini.
Fanatics operates at a volume built around apparel and high-volume retail categories. Metal collectibles, pins, medals, and trophy replicas sit in a separate category involving short-run tooling, engraved detail, and licensor-specific artwork approvals on batches of a few hundred units, work handled by specialists such as Am Ball.
Strengths
- Full retail stack: production, e-commerce, stadium retail, and fulfilment
- Multi-decade exclusive deals with major clubs and federations
- Ownership of Topps since 2022 brings printed collectibles in-house
Limitations
- Built around apparel and high-volume categories
- Less suited to bespoke, small-run collectible projects driven by a club’s marketing calendar
Best for: clubs and leagues outsourcing an entire retail and apparel operation.
5. Memento Exclusives / F1 Authentics (UK): Motorsport Memorabilia
Memento Exclusives is the clearest example of a European producer built around a single sport. As reported by Formula 1’s official channels, Formula 1 renewed its licensing agreement with Memento Exclusives, operator of F1 Authentics, naming it an official memorabilia platform and supplier of officially licensed F1 show cars through 2030. Show cars are built at the company’s headquarters in the UK’s Motorsport Valley using computer-aided design.
The product model is unusual: race-used parts re-engineered into display and furniture pieces, plus signed items and full show cars. In June 2026 it also announced a multi-year licensing programme with the Cadillac Formula 1 Team covering show cars, replica car parts, and simulators.
Strengths
- Long-term F1 licence plus team-level agreements
- UK engineering base capable of full-scale car builds
- Strong secondary-market and auction channel
Limitations
- Motorsport-specific; not a general licensed-collectibles producer
- High-value, low-unit-count products by design
Best for: motorsport teams, promoters, and collectors after authenticated race-linked pieces.
Category difference: Memento Exclusives specialises in motorsport memorabilia and race-used parts. Football and multi-sport metal collectibles produced under federation licences fall under a separate category with separate approvals.
6. COPA Football (Amsterdam, Netherlands): Heritage Apparel and Accessories
COPA Football works the retro end of football culture from Amsterdam, producing heritage-styled shirts, accessories, and gift items, some under club and federation licences. The appeal is design-led: old crests, old typography, and a product mix aimed at the fan who owns three current kits already.
Strengths
- Distinct heritage design identity
- European distribution through football-culture retail
- Product range extends beyond shirts into accessories and gifting
Limitations
- Primarily its own branded range rather than contract production for third parties
- Textile-focused
Best for: clubs and retailers looking for retro-styled ranges with an existing design language.
Category difference: COPA Football sells a curated range under its own brand. Contract production of a club’s own artwork to spec, with licensor approval documentation, is a separate service model.
7. Score Draw (UK): Licensed Retro Replica Shirts
Score Draw produces officially licensed retro replica shirts for British and European clubs and national teams, reissuing historic kit designs under licence. It’s a narrow category done properly: fabric and cut chosen to match the era rather than the current performance template.
Strengths
- Established licensed retro-shirt catalogue
- Club and federation licences for archive designs
- Clear single-category expertise
Limitations
- Shirts and closely related textiles only
- Range driven by archive availability and licence terms
Best for: clubs monetising their kit archive without building a heritage line internally.
Category difference: Score Draw is a single-category specialist in archive shirts. Pins, medals, and cup replicas require die tooling, plating, and engraving capability, a separate production discipline.
8. European Contract Factories in Portugal, Poland, Germany, and Italy
The last answer isn’t a brand at all. A large share of licensed collectibles sold in Europe is physically made at contract factories that never appear on the product: metal strikers and platers, embroidery houses, and Portuguese apparel plants that also serve premium fashion.
License Global’s Leading Licensees list recognises nearly 500 manufacturers worldwide across 18 categories of licensed consumer products, a sense of how many companies sit between a licensor and a finished product. Going direct to a factory can work if you have the licence, the artwork, the QC capacity, and someone who can read a plating spec.
Strengths
- Lowest unit cost at volume
- Short freight distances within the EU customs area
- Existing BSCI/Amfori audit coverage at established plants
Limitations
- You carry the licence, the approval process, and the QC burden yourself
- Artwork adaptation and sampling are your problem, not theirs
- No help if a licensor rejects a colour match two weeks before launch
Best for: organisations with in-house licensing and production staff already in place.
Our guide to choosing a merchandise manufacturing partner covers the questions worth asking before you commit either way.
What Does a Licensed Production Partner Do That a Factory Does Not?
A factory strikes, fills and plates the piece. A licensed production partner also gets the design and the sample approved by the licensor, checks quality at the factory and keeps the compliance files for product and packaging.
Licensor approval comes first. The licensor signs off the artwork, then the sample, by photo or in hand, and only then does the run start. A partner who knows the licensor’s style guide and approval routine saves revision rounds that a factory on its own cannot avoid.
Quality control follows at three points in the factory: the raw material before production, the sample before approval and the run before it ships. A factory checks its own work; a partner checks it against the approved sample and the licensor’s specification, and documents the result.
The third part is paperwork. For metal pins and keyrings, the product safety file under the GPSR draws on a nickel release report and lead and cadmium results for each material part, and the packaging needs its own records under the PPWR. Our guide to GPSR and nickel rules for pins and keychains lists what to ask a supplier for.
So when you compare production partners for 2026, ask each one three questions: who submits to the licensor, where quality is checked, and which files you receive with the delivery.
Comparison at a Glance
How Do You Verify a European Licensee Is Actually Licensed?
Ask for the licence in writing, naming the property, the product categories, the territory, and the term. A verbal claim of being “official” tells you nothing, and the wrong category is the most common gap: apparel rights don’t cover pins.
Then run these seven checks before you place an order.
- Confirm the category and territory. Get the licensor’s approved category list, not a logo on a website. Metal goods, textiles, and printed collectibles are separate grants.
- Request the approval workflow. Who submits artwork to the licensor, how many revision rounds are included, and what happens if a crest colour gets rejected?
- Ask for a physical pre-production sample. Photos hide plating thickness, enamel depth, and stitch density. A sample signed off before mass production is the single most useful QC checkpoint you’ll get.
- Check factory audit status. BSCI or Amfori audit coverage is now a standard licensor requirement.
- Confirm packaging compliance for your market. Germany requires LUCID registration and, in practice, a Der Grüne Punkt-type scheme for packaging. Getting this wrong stalls delivery at the border.
- Pin down MOQ and tooling cost separately. A 300-unit pin run and a 30,000-unit run use the same die; the tooling amortisation is what changes your unit price.
- Agree the QC report format up front. Raw-material inspection plus a pre-production sample check, documented, is what you want to see in the contract.
What Does This Mean for Your 2026 Sourcing Plan?
Two structural changes are worth planning around. First, the card and sticker category is consolidating. Fanatics’ 2022 purchase of Topps put the biggest challenger to Panini inside a group that already controlled much of European club retail, and FIFA’s tournament rights move to Fanatics-owned Topps from 2031. Expect fewer, larger counterparties when you next negotiate printed collectibles.
Second, licensor scrutiny of the physical supply chain is rising, driven by the counterfeit numbers above. EUIPO’s Intellectual Property and Youth Scoreboard found 10% of EU youth aged 15 to 24 admit to buying fake sporting equipment intentionally, while 7% have bought counterfeit items by accident. Documented sourcing is becoming a condition of the licence, not a bonus.
Sustainability sits in the same box. Sea freight instead of air, reduced plastic in packaging, and recyclable materials are increasingly written into licensor requirements.
One more piece of context on how big the category has become: according to the company’s own press release, License Global’s 2026 Top Global Licensors ranking named U.S. Polo Assn. the world’s leading sports licensor, following 2.7 billion dollars in worldwide retail sales in 2025 across more than 190 countries. Sports IP now competes with entertainment franchises for shelf space, and the production side has had to professionalise to match.
Conclusion: Match the Producer to the Product
There is no single answer to who manufactures licensed sports collectibles in Europe, and anyone who gives you one is selling something. The right question is narrower: who holds a licence in my category, for my territory, at my volume, with QC I can audit?
Answer that, get the licence terms in writing, and insist on a signed-off pre-production sample. The rest is logistics.
Reach out to discuss licensing and production if you want a straight answer on what your project would take.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who makes officially licensed sports collectibles in Europe?
A small group of category specialists, not one continent-wide manufacturer. Metal collectibles such as pins, medals and trophy replicas come from licensees including Munich-based Am Ball; printed collectibles come from Fanatics-owned Topps Europe and from Panini; apparel and retail run largely through Fanatics; motorsport memorabilia comes from Memento Exclusives in the UK.
Is Topps owned by Fanatics?
Yes. Fanatics acquired the Topps trading card and collectibles business in January 2022, in a deal reported at around 500 million dollars. Topps Europe Limited has historically been based in Milton Keynes. The Topps confectionery business, including Bazooka, was not part of the acquisition.
What is the difference between an official licensee and an official partner?
An official licensee holds a written licence to produce and sell specific product categories under a rights holder’s marks, paying a royalty. An official partner is a sponsorship relationship, which is a marketing deal rather than a production right.
Are licensed sports collectibles made in Europe or in Asia?
Both, depending on product. Premium apparel production is concentrated in Portugal, while most metal goods are produced in Asia under European management and quality control. Europe accounted for 24.2% of licensed sports merchandise revenue in 2025 according to Grand View Research, which is a consumption share rather than a production share.
How big is the counterfeit problem in licensed sports goods?
EUIPO estimates that counterfeit sports equipment, not counting sportswear, causes 851 million euros in annual losses in the EU, equal to 11% of sector sales, which is why documented sourcing and audited factories have become standard licence conditions.
What is the minimum order for licensed metal collectibles?
Typically around 300 units for pins, keyrings and medals, because die tooling has to be amortised across the run. Trophy replicas are usually ordered in smaller quantities at a much higher unit cost.
How long does licensed collectible production take?
On average, around 2 to 3 weeks for a sample and about 4 weeks for mass production of metal collectibles once artwork is approved, plus shipping. The exact timing varies by product, complexity and volume. Licensor artwork approval is usually the variable that decides the overall timeline.
Can a company produce collectibles for my brand if it isn’t a sports licensee?
Yes. Contract production for your own brand or IP needs no third-party licence because you own the marks, so the process moves straight to sampling without licensor approval.
