Fans of LIV Golf and its 13 four-man teams are not only able to watch their favourite players in action during LIV Golf’s 14-tournament season, but they will shortly be able to collect cards depicting their favourite players and teams and put them in an album.
The news comes after the formation of an unlikely alliance between LIV Golf and Panini, the world’s largest sports and entertainment collectibles company, in which Panini will become the exclusive trading card partner for the LIV Golf League.
Panini says its initial range of LIV-branded products will include trading cards featuring ‘match-worn memorabilia and authentic autographs’ from LIV Golf players. The company is also planning to introduce LIV Golf trading cards with its popular Prizm and Impeccable brands, as well as a Panini Instant card program, where real-time cards will be released after tournaments highlighting some of the winning moments and memorable shots throughout the season, as well as LIV Golf Team sets.
Quite how much trading of Cleaks GC and Crushers GC team cards will take place in school playgrounds remains to be seen, but a Jon Rahm Impeccable card is likely to be worth a good deal more than an Andy Ogletree.
Arsenal FC fan and Majestics GC member Ian Poulter, who collected Panini football stickers in his younger days, said: “I’ve been an avid collector of different types of sports memorabilia throughout my career, so to have the opportunity to partner with a premium trading card brand is personally very exciting for me.
“While trading cards are often times associated with younger audiences, I think this partnership between LIV and Panini is a great opportunity to bring professional golf level with other pro sporting leagues by creating memorabilia for the kid inside all of us.”
LIV Golf Commissioner Greg Norman is equally enthusiastic about filling up his own Panini sticker album. “Just as our league continues to innovate and bring professional team golf mainstream, our partnership will introduce new products to the market for millions of passionate fans and collectors to enjoy. As a former player, I’m particularly excited for our players and teams as we work with Panini to elevate their platforms in this space.”
Fans and sports memorabilia collectors are now able to pre-order LIV Golf team Panini card sets at paniniamerica.net, with six-card sets priced at $19.99.