Series 7 - European Superstars

 Prostars series 7 was released on the 12th May 2000, to coincide with the European championships being held in Holland and Belgium. Corinthian released two different versions of Prostars series 7, one for the England squad and another for the European Superstars. The European Superstars range consisted of 12 figures all painted in the respective national kit, with all the big teams represented.

 The figures were only released as single blisterpacks, unlike the England Squad range, which saw them released in window box format too. The range gave us 3 first time sculpts, all of which are superb figures too. Luis Enrique was released in the colours of Spain, a fantastic sculpt of a legendary player and one which proved immensly popular with collectors. The goalkepper chosen for the series was Denmark's Thomas Sorensen, another stunning sculpt and the only time Sorensen was released. Completing the 3 first time sculpts is Vladimir Smicer in the Czech Republic kit, a sculpt which Corinthian used for many future releases of the player but this was the first ever release, although there was a Smicer figure sculpted for the French Super Champions range in RC Lens kit, however that figure was never released!

 We were also treated to 3 new sculpts of existing figures, all of which were huge improvements on the previous version. Italy's captain and perhaps the world's best ever left back, Paolo Maldini was resculpted and releaed for the first time as a Prostar. Maldini featured in the colours of AC Milan in the Italain Superstars range back in 1997, putting the 2 side by side shows just how the figures had improved. Dutchman Dennis Bergkamp was another resculpt who's new figure far exceeded the previous version, which featured in the FAPL Collection in the kit of Arsenal. German hitman Oliver Bierhoff rounds of the set of 3 resculpted figures. Bierhof was released earlier as part of Prostars series 2, that version was good but this was better and seemed to really capture the players attitude.

 The remaining figures are all repaints of previously released figures, but non had been released singly in their national kits before. Henrik Larsson was painted into the Sweden kit, this was the same figure as the series 5 release. Emmanuel Petit was painted into the France kit and had previously been released as part of Prostars series 2, that time in the home and away kit of his club side Arsenal. Norwegian forward Tore Andre Flo had been released as part of the Norwegian Norrs Tropp range of Headliners back in 1998 and again in Prostars series 2, all figures are the same sculpt.

 Manuel Rui Costa was always a popular figure, so no surprise to see him included in this range of European Superstars. The figure used was the same as appeared in both the Italain Serie A Superstars range, in the colours of Fiorentina, and in the Portugal national range of Headliners. As the tournament was being co-hosted by Belgium, it was only right they had a figure released as part of this series, the figure chosen was Gilles De Bilde. De Bilde had been released for PSV Eindhoven in the Dutch Staatsloteriij range some years previous, so this was the first blisterpack version of the figure. Completing the set is Romanian Dan Petrescu, this figure had been released in the colours of Chelsea in the FAPL Collection, if a sculpt looks like the player, why change it?

 In additon to these 12 figures, there were also a redemption figure produced. The figure chosen to be the redemption figure was France's Emmanuel Petit, painted into the White away kit. To obtain this exclusive figure, you needee to collect the tokens which came with each figure, with just 6 tokens required to claim 1 free redemption figure. The redemption figures were packaged in clear sachets with collector card, however no blister packs of the redemption figures were produced.

 The best seller for the range was Paolo Maldini and the figure produced in the lowest volume was Gilles De Bilde. Most are easily found today for no more than £3, with perhaps Luis Enrique being the rarest of the series, with Smicer not too far behind him. A great set, just a shame they could not have had 1 figure from every competing nation.

 To find out more information on this series, please click the link button opposite.

Henrik Larsson

Sweden

Home Kit

PRO238

Emmanuel Petit

France

Away Kit

PRO299

Vladimir Smicer

Czech Republic

Home Kit

PRO240

Paolo Maldini

Italy

Home Kit

PRO239

Dan Petrescu

Romania

Home Kit

PRO241

Dennis Bergkamp

Holland

Home Kit

PRO281

Manuel Rui Costa

Portugal

Home Kit

PRO280

Thomas Sorensen

Denmark

Home Kit

PRO279

Gilles De Bilde

Belgium

Home Kit

PRO278

Tore Andre Flo

Norway

Home Kit

PRO252

Emmanuel Petit

France

Home Kit

PRO249

Oliver Bierhoff

Germany

Home Kit

PRO247

Luis Enrique

Spain

Home Kit

PRO242

Figure List

 The table below lists all of the figures which made up the Prostars series 7 European Superstars range, along with thier collector codes and version of kit.