SQUAD BUILDER SECRET SACHET

Over the years Corinthian had constantly been asked to produce a game to go along with their figures, and Corinthian answered by producing the SuperClub Football game.

 

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The Match Day Edition was released in early November 2000 and came with everything you needed to play the game, the pack included 22 ProStars figures, 11 Blue bases and 11 White bases which acted as the players boots and where circular plastic moulded discs that the figures slotted into, 2 goals, 2 Goal Keeper rods, 3 footballs,1 Super Club pitch and rules sheet, with the initial release price for the game being £30.

 

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To coincide with the games release, Corinthian released their first secret sachet product since Series 2, with the Squad Builder Secret Sachet. The sachets were sold in newsagents and collector centres, priced at £1.99 each, and also available from Corinthian Direct, as they sold a full box; known in the trade as a CDU (Counter Display Unit) of 16 sachets for £30.

 

 

Inside each sachet was 1 randomly packed figure, their collector card, a base for use in the Super Club Football game and also a collectors information leaflet with detailed the figures in the sachet and also a token, with 8 tokens needed to claim one of the 6 series 9 Redemption figures, with only 500 of each redemption figure being made.

 

 

The Squad Builder Secret Sachet contained 46 different figures, with all 16 figures from Series 9 being included, along with 3 from each of the 10 different Christmas 2000 4 packs.

 

 

The 3 figures from each of the Christmas 2000 4 packs are:

• Arsenal - Seaman, Ljungberg & Pires

• Brazil - Denilson, Savio & Rivaldo

• Serie A - Davids, Maldini & Veron

• Chelsea - Wise, Melchiot & Gudjohnsen

• Manchester United - Barthez, Scholes & Brown

• Liverpool - Smicer, Heskey & Babbel

• Leeds United - O'Leary, Dacourt and Kelly

• Tottenham Hotspur - Graham, Rebrov & Campbell

• Celtic - O'Neil, Larsson & Sutton

• Rangers - Albertz, Advocaat & Mols

 

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Along with the 46 other figures, Corinthian produced something very special to help drive sales of these sachets, they made 4 Chaser figures, which are David Beckham in Manchester United third kit, Michael Owen in Liverpool third kit, Ronaldo in Brazil away kit and Silvinho in Brazil home kit.

 

 

Corinthian made just 500 of each Chaser figure, which resulted in them being instant collectors items, with Beckham being the most in demand and valuable, followed by Ronaldo and Owen, with Silvinho being the least fancied of the 4, which is understandable when you look at the other 3 being world class talent.

 

 

The 1 figure from each 4 pack not included in the sachet would be released as a Series 9 redemption figure or one of the exclusive Chaser figures found in these sachets. Corinthian sold thousands of these sachets as collectors scrambled trying to find the 4 Chaser figures

 

 

Corinthian announced in the ProStars Club Members Newsletter Issue 9 February 2001 that a case containing Squad Builder Secret Sachet Chaser figure Platinum packs had been found in the warehouse, with the packs being produced in error. Corinthian stated they had located 23 sets and that a few sets may have already been sent out to collector centres before they were identified, so it is generally accepted by collectors there are no more than 30 of each Chaser Platinum Pack, making the incredibly rare and viewed by many to be Grail pieces.

 

 

The Squad Builder Secret Sachet was a huge commercial success for Corinthian, with collectors praising the product as there was such a varied assortment of figures included, it was keenly priced at £1.99, readily available in stores and of course it gave collectors something to literally chase by the inclusion of the 4 Chaser figures, so it is perplexing that Corinthian would never again release a sachet product as part of the ProStars series.

 

 

The 4 Chaser figures are incredibly rare and always sought after, particularly the Beckham, did you manage to get all 4?