• The Main Subbuteo Page.

• The Team Colours Project: Index and Introduction.

• Card and Celluloid teams 1-55; Early Heavyweights 1-54+World Cup
• Classic Heavyweights 1970s: Intro, 1-100, 101-200, 201-300, 301-328+Named.
• The Zombie Page
• Lightweights 1980s-90s: Intro, 1-100, 101-200, 201-300, 301-400
• Lightweights 1980s-90s: 401-500, 501-600, 601-700, 701-800, 801+Hasbro
• Parodi Production - Zëugo, Intro+2002, 2003 Part 1, 2003 Part 2
• Appendices: English League sides, Scottish League sides, National Sides

• International Appendices: France, Italy, Germany, Belgium/Holland, Spain/Portugal, Scandinavia, Rest of Europe, and America and South Africa.

• Appendices: Team boxes (this page), World Cup 1966, Super teams, The Italian Production Appendix

1. When the OO scale teams were first launched at the start of the 1960s, they appeared in a dull white box. All the teams in these boxes will be in the short-sleeved pre-heavyweight figures. The early footballer logo on this box was also used on Set U, the fixture cards, and I've used that set for the close-up shown here.

These four boxes seem to cover the 1960s, and the early years of the 1970s. They are 215mm x 93mm x 30mm.

3. I only have one team in this style box - a heavyweight of reference No.2 The box differs from 4 and 5 by having stapled ends, and white side panels. The logo shows a tiny footballer. The goalkeeper is on a metal rod. The logo is a more modern one than box three, but staples seem to be a backward step, so I'm unsure of the date of this box.

4. and 5. These boxes are identical except for the logos. The ends fold in without the use of staples. These boxes were available in the early 1970s. I have a box with the price in both decimal and pre-decimal currency written on it. Also the insides of the boxes change, adding an extra hole to accomodate the new plastic goalkeeper rods. These boxes usually contain heavyweight figures.

This picture compares the logos from boxes three, four and five above.

--6----7----8----9.

6 and 7. These boxes are shown in the 1975 catalogue, but although they are quite common, don't seem to have lasted more than a couple of years. They are the same size as the earlier boxes - i.e. 215mm x 93mm x 30mm. They house heavyweight teams with plastic handled goalkeepers only. There is a small variation in the footballer logo, and in the Regd. symbol.

8. Here the exterior is little changed from the previous box, but the box is reduced to 190mm x 83mm x 30mm. The interior of the box has also changed from card to moulded plastic. Like the previous box, there are two versions, despite the box only existing for a couple of years. The change here is to the address, which switches from Tunbridge Wells to Chiddingstone Causeway, Tonbridge. There are also two variations to the interior, the early boxes allowing for both straight backed and diving backwards goalkeepers, while the later ones only have room for the straight goalkeeper.

9. The boxes available when I bought my first sets in 1979-80. These are slightly longer and thinner than type 8, being approx 195mm x 80mm x 27mm. There are two variations to this box as well. On the first, the cardboard is open ended, the green plastic tray has a sticker with the reference number on it. These were shrink wrapped, and once opened, there was nothing to stop the figure in the little window from falling out. In the second, improved version, the cardboard sleeve had tuck in flaps (with the reference number on one end, and often team names as well - a first). The window also gained a piece of glued on polythene to prevent the player's escape. The plastic trays in this version are a darker green, and made from a thinner, but more flexible plastic.

The mid-1970s logo change.

Subbuteo first attempt at a special boxed team was C138 which was an Enland side  produced in 1976 only. This box was based on the "type 6" above, being 215mm x 93mm x 30mm, with a cardboard interior. When the C100 boxes were reduced in size in 1977, the C138 box design was reproduced in this smaller size to become part of the C500 range of home international sides. (i.e. England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland). This range was available circa 1977-79, and was replaced briefly by C165, the home internationals pack. 

The England team used for this set was the one in C138, and went on to become 317. Scotland had briefly been 193 in the Italian catalogues, and when C500 ceased it became 318. Likewise, Wales was 192 in Italy in 1976, and finally became 319. Northern Ireland seems  to have two versions. The first uses 157 (i.e. with white shorts) while the later ones have green shorts. This later version became 320 when the C500 teams stopped. As an extra, there seems to be a fifth team in the range - the England away kit that eventually became 321. 

As mentioned on the accessory pages, C100S were available in Italy in the early 1980s, and featured teams painted to a higher level of accuracy. The colours of the box match the colours of the team, and the footballer logo is wearing the correct strip. Don't these boxes seem tempting? Details of the teams involved can now be found on the Italian Production page.

The box on the left was the standard Subbuteo box until about 1995. In the first couple of years, it had a white polystyrene interior and a polythene window similar to the boxes of the 1980s. From 1993, the interior changed to plastic with a clear plastic lid that prevented the figures from falling out. That is the box illustrated here. The second illustration shows the box used for the first year of Premiership tie-ins. The third box is designed like a video cassette, and was produced for a select number of teams (about 25) circa 1990. Although described as "Super Teams", the teams themselves were no different to those in the other boxes.

This final set of boxes are those designed to hold the teams produced with flat Hasbro bases. The two boxes from  the late 1990s (shown on the left) are similar to the Waddingtons boxes, except that now only two of the figures are visible, and these are in special windows that show the kit design. There was also a "Special Edition" England box, with no windows, but it has the kit design illustrated on box. The final box shown here is the red and green design, produced for the 2000/2001 series of teams. The interior of all these boxes has space for ten outfield players set in their bases, plus the two indents for players without bases (behind the windows), and a large central space used by the goalkeeper. These teams need to be assembled by the owner, with the bases and players coming in two clear polythene bags, initially stored in the central space. The teams are said to include eleven outfield players, but while you usually only get eleven bases, I find that Hasbro seem to be confused by the two players in the windows, and you often get twelve, or even thirteen players in a set. Very useful for breakages.

That concludes my in depth look at team boxes. I hope it wasn't too dull, and that it proves some help in dating old teams. If you find yourself strangely needing to check the adverts on the back of your team boxes, then I'd better apologise for mentioning it. You can get back to the main pages of the team project by clicking on the links below.