Argentina

Why this one matters.

“On the night of 25 June 1978, Estadio Monumental in Buenos Aires disappeared under a blizzard of confetti as Argentina, the hosts, finally reached the summit of world football. The Netherlands, appearing in their second consecutive final, had the misfortune of meeting the host nation once again, and a relentless Albiceleste side inspired by Mario Kempes stood in their way. Kempes, the long-haired centre-forward who had flown home from Valencia to lead the line, opened the scoring in the first half; Dick Nanninga's late header forced extra time, but there Kempes struck again, slaloming through the Oranje defence for his sixth of the tournament, before Daniel Bertoni sealed a 3-1 victory. Captain Daniel Passarella — the commanding, goalscoring sweeper who would lift another World Cup trophy as part of the setup in 1986 — climbed through the ticker-tape to raise Argentina's first Jules Rimet Trophy. Kempes left the tournament with both the Golden Boot and the Golden Ball, and the image of him and Passarella embracing in the blue-and-white stripes became the founding myth of Argentina's World Cup dynasty. Panini's Champions insert preserves the celebration on the ultra-short Gold Power Prizm, limited to five copies worldwide; this 05/5 last-off-the-line example is a flawless PSA GEM MT 10, a perfect-grade monument to the night Argentine football was born as a world power.”