CENTRAL EUROPE SERIES 1

The very first thing to mention regarding this series has to be the name, for a very long time it has been labelled as 'Poland/Czech Series 1' however I feel this needs to be classified as 'Central Europe Series 1'

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My reasoning behind this is the fact the series was distributed and sold in 4 different countries, which are Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary, all 4 of which are located in Central Europe. The packaging and collector's information leaflet all carry the 4 languages of those countries too, so I personally feel it is a more accurate name for the series.

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The series was done in collaboration with Italian company 'Giochi Preziosi' who were also behind the Italy series, I assume this is due to the fact the series contains players from Italy's Serie A, so there cooperation would be required due to a license issue.

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Distribution wise there were different companies involved, which are as follows:

• Poland - EPEE

• Czech Republic - EPEE

• Slovakia - Alltoys

• Hungary - Formatex

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What sets this series apart from any other is the packaging used, the figures were inside a plastic capsule and placed on a backing card, and it is my assumption they were not sold in a CDU but rather placed on a rack, due to the punched hole at the top of the blister card.

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The series contains 22 different figures, all of which have unique MC collector codes, with each figure being done on all 7 base colours, Green, Red, Blue, White, Sliver, Gold and Black. As was the standard practice, the 4 goal keepers have 4 different MC codes for each base colour, except the Black base for which there is just the solitary MC code.

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It is worth mentioning that while all MC codes are unique to this series, appearance wise the figures do feature in other series, however the figures of Jerzy Dudek and Petr Cech do not, if you want them in those kits then this is the only series they are part of.

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An excellent series with top players, it is certainly no where near as rare as Croatia Series 1, however obtaining a full set can be difficult, especially the Dudek and cech, it is certainly advantageous if you have a contact in one of the 4 countries they were distributed in, with Poland having a larger collector base.

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