Football Image Rights and Sponsorship Deals: What Are Players Agreeing To?

A club wants to feature a player in an advertising campaign. A sportswear brand offers a personal endorsement deal. Another company asks permission to use the player’s name and photograph in promotional material.

Commercial opportunities like these can provide valuable income and exposure. But what exactly is a player agreeing to when a sponsor is allowed to use their name or image?

The answer depends on the contract.

A sponsorship agreement is about more than the amount being paid. It can determine where and how a player’s identity is used, what the player must do for the sponsor and which opportunities may be restricted during or after the relationship.

Those details deserve attention before the agreement is signed.

What do football image rights actually mean?

In football, image rights is often used as a broad commercial term. It can refer to the use of a player’s name, photograph, likeness and other recognisable features in advertising, merchandise or sponsorship campaigns.

Legally, however, image rights are not necessarily a single right that a player owns and can freely transfer. The protection differs from one country to another.

In the Netherlands, portrait rights under the Dutch Copyright Act are an important part of the picture. Those rules can, in certain circumstances, protect a person against publication or commercial exploitation of their portrait. They distinguish between portraits made on commission and those made without such a commission.

Famous players may also have valuable commercial interests connected to their popularity. That does not mean every photograph of a footballer can be published only with the player’s permission.

A photograph accompanying a match report is different from the same photograph being used to imply that a player endorses a product. The photographer may have separate copyright interests in the image as well.

The type of use, the agreements already in place and the applicable law all matter.

Why advertising is different from ordinary coverage

Footballers appear in photographs every day: during matches, training, interviews and public appearances. Images circulate through newspapers, websites and social media.

That does not give every brand unlimited permission to turn those images into advertisements.

Imagine a sportswear company placing a well-known footballer in an advertising campaign for new boots. Consumers could reasonably associate that player with the brand and its products.

That commercial message is different from a newspaper reporting on the player’s performance.

The sponsor therefore needs to establish the legal basis for the intended use. For the player, the important question is how far the permission extends and whether it conflicts with existing commitments.

What permission is a sponsor actually receiving?

A sponsorship agreement can be narrow. A player might authorise the use of one photograph in a specific campaign for a single season.

But the rights granted can be much broader.

An agreement may allow a sponsor to use the player’s name and likeness on websites, social platforms, in-store advertising, videos and international campaigns.

Suppose a contract grants permission for all commercial and promotional purposes connected to the sponsor.

What does that cover? Can the brand reuse photographs to advertise a different product? Can it edit or combine the images? Can campaigns run in other countries? Is further approval required before a new advertisement goes live?

Broad wording gives a sponsor flexibility. For the player, it may reduce control over later uses that were not specifically discussed during negotiations.

This is why the permitted products, media, territories, duration and any approval rights need to be understood. Clear drafting can protect the relationship on both sides.

Personal sponsors and club obligations

A professional player may have several commercial relationships at the same time.

During matches, the player wears the club’s kit and participates in team activities. They may also have a personal boot, clothing or lifestyle sponsor.

Those arrangements do not always fit together automatically.

Imagine a club with an exclusive sportswear partner and a player approached by a competing brand. Can the player take part in the personal campaign? Can they wear the club kit? Are there restrictions on displaying brands during official club activities?

The answer may not be found in the new sponsorship agreement alone.

The player’s employment contract, club commercial arrangements, collective agreements and intellectual-property rights may all be relevant.

The Dutch football sticker case

A dispute about a Dutch supermarket’s football sticker promotion illustrates how collective and individual commercial arrangements can overlap.

A former ADO Den Haag player objected to the use of his portrait in promotional material for Albert Heijn’s football sticker campaign. In his view, allowing his image to appear on a sticker did not automatically authorise broader advertising use.

On 29 October 2020, the District Court of Noord-Holland rejected his claim.

The court considered the particular use to be part of a collective football promotion, falling within the applicable collective bargaining provisions governing commercial rights at that time. The material did not trade on the player’s individual popularity separately from the collective promotion.

That judgment does not give clubs or sponsors unlimited rights over players’ images. Its outcome depended on the specific campaign and the collective agreement then in force.

The case is a reminder that personal and collective rights sometimes need to be considered together.

What does exclusivity mean in a sponsorship deal?

A sponsor may want the player not to promote competing brands during the term of the agreement.

That can be commercially understandable. The sponsor is investing in the relationship and wants its association with the player to be distinctive.

But exclusivity is not always limited to one clearly defined product.

A clause might cover football boots only. Another might extend to sportswear, training equipment or an entire category of consumer products.

Imagine a player signing with a boot manufacturer and receiving an offer from a clothing brand a year later. Whether the two relationships can coexist may depend on how the original category restriction was drafted.

A broad exclusivity clause can limit opportunities that were not even on the player’s radar when the contract was signed.

The fee therefore needs to be considered alongside the opportunities the player may be giving up.

What must the player deliver in return?

A sponsor may pay a fixed annual fee, campaign-specific amounts or bonuses connected to agreed activities.

But the player may also undertake substantial obligations in exchange for that payment: photo shoots, promotional events, interviews, public appearances or social-media content.

The details matter. How many appearances are required? Who sets the dates? Who pays travel and production costs? What happens if an injury or club commitment prevents participation?

A guaranteed annual payment is different from money payable only after specific promotional activities have been completed.

Clear commitments make the contract easier to manage for both the player and the sponsor.

What happens when the sponsorship ends?

A sponsorship agreement usually has a fixed duration. But that does not necessarily mean every image disappears from circulation the day the contract expires.

A sponsor may have published hundreds of advertisements or produced videos that remain online. Some contracts allow limited continued use of existing campaign materials after termination. Others require promotional use to stop, subject to carefully defined exceptions.

There is also a difference between leaving existing content available and launching a new campaign using old images.

The agreement should address the relevant period, media and rights to reuse previously created material. Otherwise, the player and sponsor may have very different expectations when the relationship ends.

Commercial agreements are also about control

Sponsorship deals can be an important part of a footballer’s career. They offer income, visibility and opportunities beyond the pitch.

But players should understand the rights they are granting and the commitments that come with the fee.

The Mbappé dispute showed that even at the highest level, questions can arise about which brands a player’s image is associated with and who gets to decide.

The issue is not simply what a sponsor pays. Duration, exclusivity, permitted uses and obligations after expiry all affect the player’s contractual position.

A commercial agreement does not need to become unnecessarily complicated. Its terms do need to be clear.

Received a sponsorship or image-rights agreement? Athlete Consult’s Contract Review provides an independent legal assessment, a written Contract Position Report setting out the main findings and recommendations, and a personal consultation to explain those findings.

This article discusses sponsorship agreements and image-related commercial rights with Dutch portrait and contract law as a legal reference. Protection differs between countries and may also be affected by club and collective arrangements. General information does not replace advice on a particular agreement.