Panini confirmed on Monday that Armando "La Hormiga" González will be added to the Mexico set of updates for its 2026 World Cup album, reversing an earlier omission that left the forward off initial sheets.
The confirmation came with Panini's celebratory line in Spanish: "¡El 'Otaku del Gol' ha completado su jutsu de invocación! Armando 'La Hormiga' González desbloquea su camino ninja y se une oficialmente a la Selección Mexicana en la colección de la Copa Mundial de la FIFA 2026." The company also said Álvaro Fidalgo will be included "en el Set de Actualización que llegará muy pronto" and that Neymar will appear in the update sets, but it did not provide an exact on-sale date for the new packs.
Collectors and Mexico supporters now know who to look for: Armando González, the 23-year-old Chivas forward, will appear in the updated stickers and cards. Panini's move directly affects anyone filling an album for the tournament — the roster printed in the original release will be incomplete for fans seeking Mexico's final squad.
The change matters because González earned his spot on Javier Aguirre's final list after his performances across the two most recent Liga MX tournaments, yet he was originally absent from Panini's album. Raúl Jiménez remains identified as Mexico's starting center forward for the competition, but González's late arrival to the squad is precisely why his stamp was missed in the first printing.
Panini framed the update as routine but timely, pairing González's addition with other late adjustments. In a separate line the publisher urged followers to watch its channels: "Álvaro Fidalgo formará parte del Set de Actualización que llegará muy pronto. Mantente atento a nuestras redes sociales, porque más adelante te contaremos cómo podrás conseguir su estampa." Collectors should expect Álvaro Fidalgo's image to show up in the same wave as González's entry, and Neymar will likewise be inserted where needed.
There is an unresolved practical gap: Panini has not given a release date for the update sets. The company said the updates will go on sale on an unspecified date, leaving shops and individual collectors without a firm timetable for when new packets or replacement stickers will reach shelves or online stores.
For context, Panini's run as the official publisher for FIFA World Cup albums continues through the 2030 World Cup, so midcycle updates like this are the mechanism the company uses to match albums to last-minute squad moves. Still, the omission and subsequent correction underline how quickly national rosters can change after an album's initial print run.
What comes next for collectors is straightforward: watch Panini's social accounts for the pack launch notice and expect the update set to include Armando "La Hormiga" González alongside Álvaro Fidalgo and other late additions. Until Panini posts a sale date, any Mexico album missing González remains incomplete for those assembling the official 2026 collection.
