Corinthian released a range of figures from the top league in France-'Le Championnat ligue 1' and they were released as part of the 'HEADLINERS' range of figures. The name given to this release was 'Super Champions Football 1ere Division' and they were distributed throughout France by toy company 'IDEAL'. The figures were released in June of 1997.

 The range consisted of a total of 23 figures from 9 different teams,quite a few were repaints of the figures released for the French national team but there was also a good few first time sculpts included too,the majority of which were never used again.

 We saw the first ever sculpt of Brazilian and AC Milan legend 'Leonardo' wearing the distinctive kit of 'PSG,' we also saw the unusual sculpt of 'Robert Pires' unusual because he had RED boots,which was somewhat of a rarity amongst the headliner,as most were painted with classic black boots.
 
 Some very eye catching kits were featured aswell,most notably those of 'Nantes' and 'RC Lens' which were colourful to say the least. Sadly Corinthian never again accuired the license for the french league so these were the only figures ever released from 'ligue 1.'

 Although initially very hard to acquire from France, which led to collectors parting with substantial amounts of money for the figures in the beginning,over time these figures have gradually decreased in value and are all easily found today. The main reason for this decrease in value was the discovery of a warehouse which had copias amounts of these figures in blister format,which led to the market being very quickly flooded with these figures and as a result they became much less valuable.
 
 Value wise each figure will cost you no more than around £3 and perhaps £5 at most for any of the blisters,infact a few resellers sell all 23 blisters as a set for as little as £25,which represents great value.

 Each figure was released in single blister packaging along with 4 player packs being released from PSG,Marseille and Monaco. Included in the blister was a collector card and also a collectors information file. This file featured some of the figures released as part of the range and also a selection of the French national figures.This release also gave collectors the oppurtunity to claim a free redemption figure simply by collecting the 'points' which came on the back of the blister. Each single blister came with 1 point and you needed just 12 of these points to claim the redemption figure,which for this release was chosen to be 'Jean Pierre Papin' in the French national white away kit despite the fact 'Youri Djorkaeff' was pictured on the file as the redemption figure,this was changed at a later date.

 In addition to the redemption figure you could also use your points to claim either a 4 player display stand or a 12 player display stand complete with a 'Super Champions Football Equipe De France' backing card.

 A really finely detailed collection of figures which gave us some great figures and fantastic kits,the only drawback is that more were not released,but where there more planned?

FIGURE LIST

 Below is a list of every figure released as part of this range. it lists the player,club he played for,base code,original release date and also the official retirement date.

PACKAGING FORMATS

SINGLE BLISTER

 Here is an example of a single blister pack from the 'Super Champions Football 1ere Division' range of figures.

 Each figure came issued with a collector card and also a collectors information file which detailed the other figures available as part of this particular release.

 They were released under the 'HEADLINERS' range of figures and distributed by 'IDEAL.'

 Each blister pack came with '1 collector point' you used these points to claim either the redemption figure of 'Jean Pierre Papin' in the French national white away kit,or to get 4/12 player display stands.

4 PLAYER PACK

 Here is a 4 player pack from the 'Super Champions Football 1ere Division' range of figures.

 Each 4 pack came complete with 4 collector cards and also a collectors information file.

Only 3 of the teams which made up this range had enough figures to make up a 4 pack,those teams were:
Marseille
Monaco
Paris Saint Germain

 Each team had just the one 4 pack produced and the figures were the same for each pack.

 All of the 4 player packs were officially retired by Corinthian on the 1st of February 2003.

 The 4 pack also came with '4 collector points' which meant if you bought 2 pack you had enough points to claim your free redemption figure.

 Please click on the link button below to view page 2 of the 'Super Champions Football 1ere Division' release information.