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Top players planning to object to use of their likenesses in FIFA

jbug617

jbug617

Member
Oct 25, 2017
7,903
Thousands of footballers will object to the use of their likenesses in the popular FIFA video game series, Ali Humayun can reveal. On Monday, AC Milan's Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Tottenham Hotspur's Gareth Bale stated it was "time to investigate" the use of their name and face in the EA Sports game, FIFA 21. Sources have told The Athletic that a growing number of top players are likely to follow the lead of Ibrahimovic and Bale and voice their objections to the use of their likeness in the video game without, they believe, proper consent.
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theathletic.com

FIFA 21: More players to join Ibrahimovic and Bale’s image rights campaign

Thousands of footballers will object to the use of their likenesses in the popular FIFA video game series, Ali Humayun can reveal. On Monday, AC Milan’s Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Tottenham Hotspur’s Gareth Bale stated it was “time to investigate” the use of their name and face in the EA Sports...
theathletic.com theathletic.com
 
Smoshow

Smoshow

Member
Oct 25, 2017
1,632
Most likely this is included in their Player Union contracts. I know that is how it works with NFL and NBA.
 
LebGuns

LebGuns

Member
Oct 25, 2017
4,127
What is Gareth Bale complaining about? They don't render players when they're on the bench or out injured either way
 
Starlatine

Starlatine

533.489 paid youtubers cant be wrong
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Oct 28, 2017
30,373
"top players"
"gareth bale"

does not compute
and since its bale, hes probably complaining about EA using him on PGA Tour or something
 

AndyMc1888

Member
Jul 16, 2019
1,020
Surely the league owns it at some point so fifa paying for the epl and uefa license there fine ? Greedy millionaires being greedy sounds shitty
 
Salty Catfish

Salty Catfish

Avenger
Oct 25, 2017
2,773
Florida
EA licenses these likenesses either through the FIFPro union or the clubs themselves so this is probably a case of players just a) not reading the fine print of their contracts and b) wanting some easy cash through a settlement.
 
cvbas

cvbas

Member
Oct 25, 2017
4,165
Brazil
If they're members of FIFPro, not much they can do I'm afraid.

But this was a long time coming, to be honest. It's been years since Football Manager stopped being sold in Brazil because players sued Sports Interactive.
 
Stowaway Silfer

Stowaway Silfer

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 27, 2017
32,819
I'm pretty sure Milan is sponsored by EA and advertise the game in home matches this season so it'd be funny if Zlatan somehow managed to get his likeness removed.
 
LukeOP

LukeOP

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
4,749
Hopefully these players win. Can't just assume it's in the contract. Take it to court and hopefully it makes EA look like clowns.
 
Starlatine

Starlatine

533.489 paid youtubers cant be wrong
Member
Oct 28, 2017
30,373
LukeOP said:
Hopefully these players win. Can't just assume it's in the contract. Take it to court and hopefully it makes EA look like clowns.
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unless you wish for the end of football games forever you really shouldnt hope "football players win" and everybody gets their right to negotiate their image rights with whoever regardless of league and club deals

this isnt just about fucking EA
 
My Blue Heaven

My Blue Heaven

Banned
May 19, 2020
4,828
it's the asshole match of the century

rich footballers vs. rich corrupt football organization/video game publisher famous for gobbling studios and spitting them out
 
Salty Catfish

Salty Catfish

Avenger
Oct 25, 2017
2,773
Florida
Fistwell said:
Roberto Larcos incoming. Latan Izabrhimovic?
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I'll never forget Jon Dowd, who was a white Barry Bonds back in MVP Baseball 2005 and an absolute beast. (Barry was not a member of the players union.)

1*WOoQy8aX23F0I8ZEuUhHHg.jpeg
 
Zem

Zem

Member
Oct 25, 2017
4,969
United Kingdom
This won't change overnight but the top players will certainly look into these things in the future. Always found it strange the players gave up their likeness that easily. Now Beckham is making £40m over 3 years for his likeness you can guarantee the top players won't be letting this go easily.

Would love this to fuck EA / FIFA over when the top players can't be included.
 
Kemono

Kemono

▲ Legend ▲
Banned
Oct 27, 2017
7,669
I'm sure it's in the tiniest fine print on their contracts. Not specific to this case but that the clubs are allowed to sell their likenesses.

I'm wondering how there's nobody to keep them from talking about this stuff. Their clubs are the rights holder and EA certainly made sure that they can use their faces.
 

LFMartins86

Member
Nov 7, 2017
2,177
Zem said:
This won't change overnight but the top players will certainly look into these things in the future. Always found it strange the players gave up their likeness that easily. Now Beckham is making £40m over 3 years for his likeness you can guarantee the top players won't be letting this go easily.

Would love this to fuck EA / FIFA over when the top players can't be included.
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This will fuck everyone. Football games will be back to unlicensed players.
 
Starlatine

Starlatine

533.489 paid youtubers cant be wrong
Member
Oct 28, 2017
30,373
Zem said:
This won't change overnight but the top players will certainly look into these things in the future. Always found it strange the players gave up their likeness that easily.
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They are paid very, *very* well to give the rights of their likeness for club affairs when needed while still retaining the right to use their image for personal purposes and take deals with other companies for other products

The poor players are not getting screwed here. And beckham gets that much exactly because he isnt a player anymore.
 
Tygre

Tygre

Member
Oct 25, 2017
11,100
Chesire, UK
Starlatine said:
unless you wish for the end of football games forever you really shouldnt hope "football players win" and everybody gets their right to negotiate their image rights with whoever regardless of league and club deals

this isnt just about fucking EA
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No, it's about fucking human beings.

In a battle between manual labourers (which is what football players are) and multi-billion dollar multi-national corporations (which is what EA and FIFA are) I'm always going to side with the manual labourers.

Fuck every football game ever released if they can only exist due to the exploitation of labour.
 
Eoin

Eoin

Member
Oct 27, 2017
7,103
LukeOP said:
Hopefully these players win. Can't just assume it's in the contract. Take it to court and hopefully it makes EA look like clowns.
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EA have been doing this for decades. They're going to have image rights nailed down in virtually every single circumstance. It's possible there's some local exceptions for individual teams or players that might cause EA to have to revise how they work, but for the big players, teams, and leagues, there's no way they've left themselves open to serious legal challenge.

As for who might end up looking like clowns...



I think footballers who aren't aware of what's in their contract and can't remember products that they've actively promoted (and which actively promote the players) are rather more likely to look clownish.
 
Starlatine

Starlatine

533.489 paid youtubers cant be wrong
Member
Oct 28, 2017
30,373
Tygre said:
No, it's about fucking human beings.

In a battle between manual labourers (which is what football players are) and multi-billion dollar multi-national corporations (which is what EA and FIFA are) I'm always going to side with the manual labourers.

Fuck every football game ever released if they can only exist due to the exploitation of labour.
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Oh god you're so right, poor oppressed bale receiving millionaire contracts to never play at Real Madrid is the victim here!
get off your high horse, the battle youre trying to paint is not the one that is happening here
 
Com_Raven

Com_Raven

Brand Manager
Verified
Oct 27, 2017
1,103
Europa
LukeOP said:
Hopefully these players win. Can't just assume it's in the contract. Take it to court and hopefully it makes EA look like clowns.
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Leaving aside how the last part sounds like children arguing in kindergarden- they don't assume, they know the likenesses are in the contract. In Zlatan's case for example, EA has a deal with AC Milan.
 
thyy

thyy

Member
Oct 27, 2017
53
What are the current rules?
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FIFPro, the international players' union, has a mandate to sell name and likeness rights on behalf of every player from a member nation.

In cases where a country is not a member of FIFPro or has a special arrangement with the union, player names and likenesses are either held by the individual players themselves, their clubs, the league their club belongs to, or the national federation.

For a football game to use the image rights of players, it must either need a specific agreement with their club or with the individual player. It does not acquire these rights via deals with a league.

Premier League clubs sell all their video game licensing rights collectively, with almost all intellectual property included — from player details to stadium names. Of Europe's top five leagues, only Serie A has not collectivised its video game licensing rights.

There is a precedent. In June this year, 450 players in Brazil won a settlement of R$6.5million after the Union of Athletes of Santa Catarina brought a case against them in court.
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The German union isn't part of FIFPro, but the Bundesliga seems to have collectivized its "video game licensing rights". Clubs usually want to buy the the image rights from their players, but they aren't always successful. (Cristiano Ronaldo famously has sold his to Peter Lim, not Juventus)

The question seems to be, does EA need all the image rights of the individual players in addition to the "video game licensing rights" from the leagues/clubs.
 

Zyae

Prophet of Truth
Banned
Mar 17, 2020
2,057
Tygre said:
No, it's about fucking human beings.

In a battle between manual labourers (which is what football players are) and multi-billion dollar multi-national corporations (which is what EA and FIFA are) I'm always going to side with the manual labourers.

Fuck every football game ever released if they can only exist due to the exploitation of labour.
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These arent blue collar construction workers, they are soccer players making multi hundred thousand - millions a year.
 

Raigor

Member
May 14, 2020
15,132
Tygre said:
No, it's about fucking human beings.

In a battle between manual labourers (which is what football players are) and multi-billion dollar multi-national corporations (which is what EA and FIFA are) I'm always going to side with the manual labourers.

Fuck every football game ever released if they can only exist due to the exploitation of labour.
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So according to you, both FIFA and EA are exploting the labour by using the players faces without any contract? lol

Do you seriously think the company that have been making FIFA games for nearly 30 years is not signing contracts left and rights to secure licenses, players and pretty much everything?
 
Euler007

Euler007

Member
Jan 10, 2018
5,041
In some leagues the player contracts has to follow a template. Here's a random footbal contract template I found

Article 2 To the extent that his personality rights as a player are concerned, the Player shall grant the Club the right to exploit these rights while declaring and warranting not to have assigned these rights to any third party. These rights may be utilised and commercially exploited by using all and any currently known and future technical means and media, including multi-media applications (Internet, internet service providers, computer games, etc.). This provision applies especially to club-authorised images showing the Player individually or together with team members, be these portraits or match scenes or footage of full-length matches provided to public and/or private broadcasters and/or other audio-visual media outlets, thus allowing the DFB, its (sub-)regional FAs and/or the League Association to meet their respective contractual obligations vis-à-vis such broadcasters or media outlets.

I picture the player yelling "show me the money" on the phone at his agent. Not sure they all read the contract, some probably consider that's what they pay their agents and lawyers for.
 
Com_Raven

Com_Raven

Brand Manager
Verified
Oct 27, 2017
1,103
Europa
Raigor said:
So according to you, both FIFA and EA are exploting the labour by using the players faces without any contract? lol

Do you seriously think the company that have been making FIFA games for over 30 years is not signing contracts left and rights to secure licenses, players and pretty much everything?
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I also love how that user acts as if the rights to their likenesses and marketing wasn't an important factor in players getting their millions in salaries...
 
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