There were fewer UEFA EURO 2021 stamps than I expected. Not sure what I was hoping for, but I’m a bit surprised which countries didn’t issue anything for the championships. England, France¸ Spain and Portugal all took a pass on issuing stamps. 13 countries issued a mixed bag of designs. They range from a traditional approach to football artwork to embracing newer print technology.
Future collectors may be momentarily confused by the year shifting between stamps and postmarks. Covid laid waste to so many things last year and the UEFA was not excluded. Many of the stamps still say EURO 2020 while the cancels show 2021.
PICK OF THE BUNCH
What are my favourites? For me, the Belgium design is the strongest. They evoke a party atmosphere. There is something about the intensity of the crowds that captures the excitement best. Plus the stamps are eye poppingly sharp.
Kris Maes’ design is spot on. The use of lenticular effect used in these stamps creates a 3D effect. Moving the stamp around changes the colours and photo. Hold the stamp one way and you see a crowded stadium, angle it a bit and the crowd is holding the Belgium colours. Wiki has a pretty good page that explains how the effect works Lenticular printing – Wikipedia.
POSTMARKS for UEFA EURO 2021
Not a lot of postmarks came out of this series. For an old cancel hound, this is disappointing. Germany issued, as always, some of the best. They nicely captured the speed and excitement of the game with their goalie postmark. I’m a sucker for German cancels.
YOUNG COLLECTORS – Skillzy
The choice of the Euro 2020 mascot, Skillzy, will tweak younger collectors’ attention. If you have a young football fan in your life, introduce them to the Russian, North Cyprus and Turkey stamps. They’ll love them.
POLL – Tell us who will win!
Ok, now for the important part – it’s down to England VS Italy for the finals. I waited until I knew who would be heading to the finals before posting this article because I wanted to run a poll. Who will win? Take the poll! It will be open until just before the game on Sunday.
| [totalpoll id=”24195″] |
Don’t forget to leave a comment below about which stamp is your favourite.
Special thanks to Jukka K. for helping fill in some of the gaps & supplying extra scans for Belgium & the Macedonia FDC.
European football champions 2020 – winner’s stamp
Italy issued a stamp to celebrate their championship win.
postcard
1 stamp, postcard, cancel
Design: edited by the Philatelic Center of the Operations Management of the Polygraphic Institute and State Mint S.p.A.
Release date: Aug. 6, 2021
All the stamps for UEFA EURO 2021
Albania
2 stamps, 1 FDC, cancel
Designer: Petraq Papa
Release date: June 11, 2021
Armenia
Designer: David Dovlatyan
Release date: June 3, 2021
Azerbaijan
1 stamp, sheet of 8, FDC,
Designer: Vugar Eyyubov
Release date: July 29, 2021
Belgium
2 stamps, souvenir sheet, FDC, cancel
with special lenticular imaging effect that will create a 3d effect when the stamp is moved. Unfortunately it is impossible to duplicate this effect on this page.
Second set 1 stamp, souvenir sheet of 5,
Designer: Kris Maes
Release date: June 16, 2021
North Cyprus
1 stamp, sheet of 9, FDC, cancel, info sheet
Designer: Göral Korol Sönmezler
Release date: March 12, 2020
Germany
The stamp has all the stadium names included in the grid.
1 stamp, sheet of 10, 3 cancels, maxi card
3rd cancel (Self-promotion postmark) football in net
POSTMARK PLACE: Bonn, Berlin, Munich
Designer: Thomas Serres, Hattingen using the typographic illustrations by © Alexandr Bognat – stock.adobe.comb
Maxicard & self-promotion cancel designer: Wittmann, Schwabach
Release date: June 10, 2021
Hungary
1 stamp, souvenir sheet, FDC, cancel
Photo: MTI/KKBK
Designer: Orsolya Kara
Release date: June 4, 2021
Isle of Man
City sets
Presentation pack
Sheets of 8 stamps for each host city
FDCs
Limited edition full set
EURO Final game matchup limited edition – 2021 sets will be issued. Includes FDC & Program
8 stamps, 8 sheets of 8, souvenir sheet, FDCs, cancel, presentation pack, limited edition full set, limited edition FDCs celebrating England’s 4 wins
This set gets a bit complicated. There didn’t seem to be set for all host cities. I could find collections for London, Munich, Copenhagen, Rome and Glasgow. Sheets of 8 are available for all stadiums. Some items are available only via the full collection.
Release date: July 7, 2021
Italy
Illustrative bulletin article signed by Gabriele Gravina, President of figc.
Poligrafico e Zecca dello Stato S.p.A.
Macedonia
1 stamp, FDC, cancel
Designer: S. Pavleski
Release date: June 3, 2021
Monaco
1 stamp, sheet of 10, FDC, cancel
Designer: Alain Giampaoli
Release date: March 25, 2021
Russia
Sheets
Postcards
FDCs
Souvenir folder
3 stamps, FDCs, cancels, souvenir sheet of 9, souvenir folder, postcard
POSTMARKS: Moscow, Kalingrad, Saint Petersburg
Release date: June 11, 2021
San Marino
1 stamp, sheet of 12, cancel
Thanks to eagle eyed Jukka for spotting I missed San Marino.
Designer: Chiara Fedele
Release date: June 16, 2020
Italy on the top of Europe
1 stamp, cancel, sheet of 12
Designer: Riccardo Nunziati
Release date: September 9, 2021
Turkey
4 stamps, FDC, cancel
Release date: June 11, 2021
Ukraine
1 stamp, sheet of 9
Release date: June 11, 2021
POLL – favourite stamp
Alright, now that you’ve seen them all, which is your favourite stamp? When the games are over I’m sure the winning country will issue a stamp (or two). When it’s released, I’ll post it here.
[totalpoll id=”24293″]
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Can’t see where to vote for the best stamps, but the Turkey set easily takes my vote.
Oh, good point. Voting for stamp is via comments. Thanks for pointing this out. I’ll add a not at the top of the article.
So that’s one for Turkey! They are a lot of fun.
Changed my mind. You made me think a proper poll was needed. I’ve tagged Turkey for you.
Hi, sorry San Marino is missing from the list.
Oh cool! Thanks for letting me know. I’ll have to correct that now.
Thanks for updating about Azerbaijan and Italy champion stamps! They are on their way to me. You can check my present collection here
https://youtube.com/shorts/_WFS6j1Vef4?feature=share
Hey, drop by and post a photo of them when they arrive!
Hi, ok BTW Belgium has a thing called “First Day Sheet” which however is not available outside Belgium. And Italy Championship stamps has also a “philatelic card” or maximum card, which I just ordered.
I’ll have to check out the Belgium sheet! I’ll have to update Italy’s cards. I really like what Italy does – their info bulletins and cards are appealing. Wish Canada Post used more imagination in what they offer.
Yes it is a pity that it seems to be impossible to order anything outside Italy and Belgium from their Post offices. Had to order via Ebay.
I have a scan picture of the Macedonia FDC in case you woild like to update. Seems not possible to add attachments here.
Would love to get a scan. If you have time you can send it to contact @ bittergrounds.com
where is Azerbaijan in the vote?
Hey Elvis,
Azerbaijan’s stamp appeared late and I forgot to add it. Just popped it into the poll. Thanks for let me know I missed them.
Hi, I Emailed you the scans.
Got them! Thanks. Will be posting them today.
This is my blog about the subject. Unfortunately only in Finnish. http://postimerkkeilija.blogspot.com/2021/10/suomen-ensimmainen-jalkapallon.html?m=1
I checked out your site and it’s worth the visit. I have translate plugin installed so at a click of a button I can read pretty much any site.