Charlie aiming for Match AttaxWorld title

12-year-old Charlie Troy has been awarded the accolade for the second year running after battling it out against other Match Attax collectors at the Belfast leg of the Topps Swap and Play Tour hosted in Olympia Leisure Centre in March, which saw many kids and families enjoy a range of fun-filled football activities.

Charlie has now secured a highly-coveted place in the Grand Final of the Match Attax World Championships, where he will be pitted against other regional winners and play the stat-based trading card game of skill in front of the crowd before the Chelsea vs Leicester game at Stamford Bridge this Sunday.

A thrilled Charlie said: “I’m really pleased to be a Match Attax World Championship regional finalist for Belfast - I love collecting the cards and play the game almost every day.

“I’m really excited for the final; it’s a great excuse to play the game even more now to practice.”

To make the Topps Swap and Play event even more memorable for Charlie, he was also able to watch World-Record-holding football freestyler Dan Magness in action, as well as get his hands on the last few Match Attax football trading cards and Merlin Premier League Stickers needed to complete his collections.

Rod Pearson from Topps, the makers of Match Attax, adds: “It was great to see so many people at the Swap and Play event in Belfast; thank you to everyone who came along and joined us.

“We’d just like to say a huge congratulations to Charlie for becoming a regional finalist in the Match Attax World Championships, and good luck for the Grand Final.

“As the world’s most successful trading card game, there are some very passionate Match Attax super-fans out there, and Charlie will be battling it out against some tough competitors from all across the world in the final, including collectors from the UK, Ireland, Singapore and South Africa, so it promises to be a great contest.”

Over three seasons in the UK alone more than 160 million packets of cards. One packet of Match Attax cards sells every 1.2 seconds, and Irish kids collect more than their UK counterparts.