The official release of the Qatar 2022 World Cup album is scheduled for this Wednesday, August 24, however, copies that are part of the presale are already circulating. Those who were able to obtain one were surprised to notice some errors and a change in numbering methodology, which represents the end of a decades-long tradition. Despite the flaws, the product was well received by fans.
And not only were the albums that were part of the pre-sale sold out, but also hundreds of users on social networks said that they went out to look for it in kiosks and that they could not get it. Meanwhile, the privileged ones who already have it in their hands discovered some curiosities.
The Qatar 2022 figurine album bug
Beyond the classic mistakes with the list of players that each edition includes -because they are edited before knowing who is summoned in each selection-, on this occasion, a new flaw was added: the album shows an erroneous start date. The page dedicated to the fixture indicates that the World Cup will begin on Monday, November 21 with the match between Senegal and the Netherlands, but that information is not correct.
A few weeks ago, FIFA decided to bring forward the start of the World Cup in order to respect the tradition that the host country kicks off. Therefore, the new opening match will be between Qatar and Ecuador, and will be played on Sunday, November 20.
As with the revelation of the official lists of those summoned, the modification was not made since it was announced on a date very close to the album’s release.
The change in the album that caused surprise
In turn, the most striking modification had to do with a new way of numbering the figures. Unlike what happened before, where it was counted from 1 to the corresponding number, without distinction of teams, from now on the procedure will be different.
For Qatar 2022, each country will have its own numbering for the 19 spaces -18 corresponding to the players and one for the shield-. If the system that existed until now were used, the figurines would be numbered from 1 to 638.
With the official release in Argentina, from Wednesday many more copies will begin to be available. As always, they can be purchased at newsstands or also online, just like the figurine packages. Through networks and online platforms, it was even possible to see the sale of albums in a combo that includes the 638 ready-to-stick figures. The estimated price for each package suggested by the company is $150.