Football Memorabilia | Collectibles & Collectors Items

Buying and collecting football memorabilia can become a hobby that will keep you interested for many years to come. With huge ranges and a seemingly infinite variety of items to collect, you can be spoilt for choice. This does however make it easier to start your collection. So what do you collect and how do you start? There are so many products to choose from and a few of them are discussed below to get you started.

What drives your collection
What areas of football history are you interested in? Do you want to specialise in a particular era or is it the love of your team that drives many of your decisions? There is definitely no wrong answer; you have to follow your heart and collect items that will keep you interested. No matter what decision you make, there will be many suitable items available.

Football programmes
Football programmes are an excellent place to start. The majority can be inexpensive to purchase, even for some classic pieces, so you can begin to amass an extensive collection in no time. If you are obsessed with one particular team, then you can concentrate your efforts there. So how do you begin the search process? Obvious methods will have to include internet searches, online auctions and classified sales sites. You can find yourselves some real bargains and online search facilities make the job relatively easy, allowing you to search thousands of items in seconds for that illusive programme. You should also turn your efforts towards the various football programme fairs that are arranged throughout the country every week. These can be a great place to meet other collectors and to get ideas for your own collection. Use the online resources available to track down the dates and locations.

Football Shirts
Collectable football shirts can easily become highly prized items in your collection. Shirts to add to a collection can range from replica kits for current teams to classic shirts from an historical game, signed by an entire international squad. The latter are excellent items to search for, even if they are on the expensive side -- but occasionally you will find some great bargains. You may wish to wear the replica strips -- or mount signed shirts on the wall, creating your very own footballing hall of fame. As with all types of collectables, there are unfortunately individuals out there selling fake merchandise. If you are buying signed replica or original 'match worn' shirts, they will often include certificates of authenticity created by the club before they are released. This is of great importance as these items usually cost a fair amount so you need to ensure that you really are getting what you pay for. If you are buying from auction sites or websites specialising in these types of sales, then you can usually investigate the feedback from other customers.

Match worn boots
Due to the sheer volume of boots a player goes through in their professional lifetime, it is inevitable that they end up for sale in many different places, often in online auctions. Boots signed by the player that wore them, can be a highly prized addition to any collection. They are however more difficult to find and as such will often set you back more than most items. As with the football shirts, you will find that there may be some counterfeit goods on sale so try to do your research.

Badges
Badges can be collected from so many sources that it can be hard to know where to begin. On match day, you will often find stalls upon stalls of merchandise with more badges than you could imagine. You will also find the most enthusiastic of fans covered in the things from head to toe! The basic rule of thumb is to simply buy the badges that stand out to you. It can be very easy to collect huge numbers in a relatively short space of time but so many of these items are mass produced which obviously minimises their future value. If you wish to build a collection that may be worth more to you as time goes on, you should concentrate on more unique items. Collectable badges will really only include special editions and items commemorating certain events such as the FA Cup or World Cup Finals.

If you are interested in football then it is inevitable that you will find some items that are a joy to collect. It doesn't matter whether you are attempting to build a collection that will be worth serious money in the future, or that you just have a love for the beautiful game, you will always find a reason to begin a collection.