"100 euros for the Lamine d'or": unrest in Sant Antoni over illegal sale of stickers

Barcelona"The golden Lamine Yamal costs 100 euros". The phrase is said by a woman sitting on a bench in the ronda de Sant Antoni with files full of stickers around her. Like her, it is easy to distinguish other people equipped with similar folders among the crowd of people who are exchanging stickers in the area this Sunday. Some have even set up a small table. They are illegal sticker sellers, a phenomenon that is on the rise and has exploded in recent weeks due to the fever for World Cup stickers. This situation is exhausting the patience of the merchants at the Sant Antoni Sunday market, who have repeatedly asked the Guardia Urbana to intervene in the face of this unfair competition.

One of the most critical stallholders about the situation is Ferran Roig. Since the end of 2020, he has had a license to sell stickers at the Sunday market, which cost him 25,000 euros. To all this, he has to add the monthly fee he pays to be at the market and the taxes he pays as a self-employed person. He criticizes that, on the other hand, less than fifty meters from his stall, there can be people selling stickers like him without having to face all these costs. He assures that the volume of fraudulent business that can occur in the area is around 5,000 or 6,000 euros each weekend.

"This has always happened, but now an alternative market has been established," denounces Roig, who points out that for some time now, illegal sellers have even brought out tables and chairs or have credit card payment terminals. He compares them to "poachers". "They engage in unfair competition because they don't pay any taxes, and this allows them to sell stickers at ridiculously low prices," he laments. To give an example, the golden Lamine Yamal that sells for 100 euros in the ronda de Sant Antoni costs 150 euros at his stall. According to him, it all started four years ago with the Qatar World Cup sticker collection. Now, with a new World Cup event, it has exploded again.

"They are so established that nobody thinks it is an illegal activity. They confuse families," says a resigned Roig, who has recently had another meeting with members of the Local Police who, he says, have promised to act. He points out that street sales have also multiplied because platforms like Wallapop have become "more serious". "Now they prefer to sell there in person, collect cash and leave," he adds.

Not even Colau escapes the fever

The fever for World Cup stickers has exploded this year to levels that have exceeded the expectations of Panini – the company that makes them – and the vendors of Sant Antoni themselves. "There are twice as many people at my stall as usual, and half of them are here for the World Cup," admits Roig. The sidewalks around the market corroborate this success. From early on, there are groups of people exchanging stickers of the selections of Argentina, Morocco, Spain, but also of Curaçao, Uzbekistan, and Cape Verde, some of the World Cup surprises. By mid-morning, the neighborhood is already paralyzed.

By midday, it's already an odyssey to try to cross the area on foot. Hundreds of people block the path at the intersections of Tamarit with Comte Urgell – with problems even for some residents trying to leave their homes –; of Comte Borrell with Manso – where a woman with a cane curses in front of the crowd making it difficult for her to pass – and, above all, of the new ronda Sant Antoni with ronda Sant Pau, where exiting the metro station is already a challenge because the groups exchanging World Cup stickers already occupy the entire space. All around the market are also dotted with other smaller groups.

The fact that no one is escaping the fever is shown by the fact that among the hundreds of people exchanging cards and stickers on Sunday, even former mayor Ada Colau could be seen, accompanying her children to try to complete the collection. They were doing so under an inclement sun, which made the groups move around in search of shaded areas. Around one in the afternoon, there was even a boy who fainted from the heat. When the ambulance that someone had called arrived, however, the boy was already exchanging stickers as if nothing had happened.