FOOTBALL LEAGUE 100 : Ossie Ardiles # 90

For two countries that were once at war over an island, there is the commonality of football that unite both Argentina and England. With current Argentine stars like Sergio Aguero and Carlos Tevez (both Manchester City) making their living in the English Premier League, it shows the power of sport over politics.

However, all of the South American imports playing in England today can be attributed to the sucess of one individual Argentine legend - OSVALDO "OSSIE" ARDILES.

1979 Topps "All-Star" Ossie Ardiles.

Ardiles concluded the 1978 FIFA World Cup with a Champion's medal as his home nation hosted that tournament. Afterwards, he went overseas to play for Tottenham Hotspur were he bacame a fan favorite.

After 10 seasons playing in London, he moved to the American club Ft. Lauderdale Strikers for their 1989 Championship season.

Osvaldo Ardiles is the first and only player from South America in the Football League top 100. Subsequently, he is the lone player with his first card appearing in a South American (and relatively rare) set.

Ardiles first appears on a rare 1977 Argentine League card with his Huracan club.

The A&BC s of Footballers - the First Year

The first product of any card company is always special. The 1952 Topps baseball is idolized for its inclusion of the Mickey Mantle card. The 1958 A&BC Chewing Gum card set is actually the second sports product from the British card makers.

The 1954 A&BC All Sports was a multi-athletic set but did feature some great soccer players. However, the first complete soccer set by A&BC was this 1958-59 series. This feaured the rookie card of England's all time scorer and Manchester United great - BOBBY CHARLTON.

I recently traded for 5 cards from this colorful set with my friend Stein. A&BC - also known as the American & British Company Limited - produced sets from 1958 to 1975. They were then purchased by Topps. Topps continued the soccer sets up to 1981.

You can see that the two makers already worked together by the similarity of designs from the Topps baseball and the A&BC soccer cards.

I have already completed two of the A&BC sets - the 1967 and the 1971 series. I have about 75 % of the 1959 set and got a nice start on this 1958 set. The variations are still a curiousity as the debut series were issued wih the Planet album offer and without

the Planet offer. Yet, even the with versions have been found to be on different sizes.

Of course the "with Planet tabs" are more desirable, the ones without were designed to be put in the album. As you can see by the dotted line they expected the collectors to trim off the tab to fit in the album.

I am looking for any trades on these cards. Speak up and get yourself a deal ...

The Pepsi Generation ... Argentina

What is great about some current international MLS players is finding some of their soccer cards before they came to America. One of these stars is the Columbus Crew's Guillermo Barros Schelotto - 2008 League MVP.

An icon and idol of Argentina soccer, he was a hero of the terraces at fan-crazed Boca Juniors. In a recent trade with my friend Michel from Texas, I recieved these 1996-97 Pepsi Futbol cards.

They included Argentinian national team players dressed in Pepsi jerseys. Each player appears in a portrait and action pose. I believe there are 50 players in the 100 card set.  Obviously with international players, it is star loaded - including Enzo Francescoli, and Hernan Crespo.

In addition, the trade also featured these 2000 Pepsi 3-D cards. Although scans never do justice to these, the 2 second flicker of action records some spectacular highlight of the player on the card. While there are some nice goals, the one card that I think is exceptional is a save by Paraguay's World Cup goalkeeper - Jose Luis Chilavert - of Velez Sarfield.

The commercializaion of trading cards has come a long way from the cigarette cards of our grandfathers. It definitely makes for some interesting trading and collecting.

If you have any unusual soccer cards you want to trade, let me know.