The new collection of "Team Italy - Rio 2016" stickers of the Italian athletes who will participate in the next Olympic Games in Brazil was officially presented today by CONI and Panini, during the traditional ceremony in Rome for the handover of the Italian flag at the Quirinal Palace. The company from Modena presented the first copies of the collection to the president of the Italian Republic, Sergio Mattarella (photo Mezzelani/Carbone GMT), to the president of CONI, Giovanni Malagò, the flag-bearer Federica Pellegrini and the dozens of athletes who are preparing to leave for Rio de Janeiro.

"The cooperation between CONI and Panini in order to create this extraordinary collection represents a coming together of excellence, a special union to celebrate the uniqueness of an event about to become part of history", said president Giovanni Malagò. "Photographing the stars of this fantastic adventure called Rio 2016 in order to illustrate, from a magical perspective, the next edition of the Olympic Games. Italy's Olympic Team album is one to show off with pride, a sign of continuity with the tradition that characterises an editorial group that - thanks to its stickers - entered the homes and hearts of Italians, before conquering the world by exporting a winning model based on originality and passion".

"We are thrilled to have partnered CONI in the creation of this collection, the first in the fifty-year history of our company dedicated to an Italian team taking part at an Olympic Games", said Aldo Sallustro, CEO of the Panini Group. "We wanted to express our support for the athletes of the Italian Olympic Team and give all the Italian fans a guide to closely track the performance of Italy's athletes in Brazil. For many years now, Panini has been creating collections for major international sporting events, such as collaborations with FIFA, UEFA and NBA, and this Olympic collection represents another addition to the range of products offered to collectors of all ages".

The "Team Italy - Rio 2016" is available from today, 22nd June, in all newsagents. It includes 315 large format stickers (including 40 special metal ones), as well as 45 stickers reproducing the official symbols of the disciplines and contains the schedule of the various events. The stickers are to be collected in a large 64-page album with a stylish cover created using a special processing technique. The album opens with an institutional section, with stickers of CONI president Giovanni Malagò, and flag-bearer Federica Pellegrini, in addition to Italy's Olympic team logo. Following on from that there are some fun facts and the Olympic events schedule.

The middle section is dedicated to stickers of the athletes and teams for each Olympic discipline. The stickers are genuine "identity cards" of each athlete and contain, in addition to the picture of the athlete, a lot of information (date and place of birth, weight and height, specialty, previous individual Olympic success, and much more). Each section also includes Italy's all-time medals in the various disciplines. The album continues with a historical section containing stickers of Italy's Olympic multi-medallists. The collection ends with the section dedicated to additions, which will be home to 35 extra stickers representing the latest athletes and teams heading to the Olympic games, which will be available free of charge from the month of August from Panini's Customer Service Department. See www.panini.it for further information.