The FIFA conundrum: Controversy over ownership rights of EA Sports
EA Sports' FIFA franchise has been involved in many controversy's over the ownership of players' rights. Stars like Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Gareth Bale, along with super-agent Mino Raiola, have openly voiced their criticism of how the company has acquired their names and likenesses.
FIFA franchise and FIFPro
To understand the situation, we need to first look at what FIFPro is and its role in EA Sports' video game franchise, FIFA.
FIFPro is an international player's union. It is like the "United Nations" of the footballing world. The organization coordinates the activities of all the football associations of member countries to achieve a specific goal or to resolve certain issues.
A players' union, FIFPro has the exclusive right to sell the names and likenesses of all players belonging to a member nation. However, this power that FIFPro holds has brought in much criticism and scrutiny.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic was very vocal on the whole issue, saying the following via tweets in November 2020:
"Who gave FIFA EA Sports permission to use my name and face? FIFPro? I'm not aware of being a member of FIFPro, and if I'm, I was put there without any real knowledge through some weird maneuver. And for sure, I never allowed FIFA or FIFPro to make money using me. Somebody has been making a profit on my name and face without any agreement all these years. Time to investigate."
Gareth Bale replied to Zlatan's tweet with the following words:
"Interesting, what is FIFPro? #TimeToInvestigate."
Why are the players unhappy?
The source of the players' resentment and anger is clear. They have signed lucrative image rights deals with their clubs, and they expect to be compensated fairly.
Ibrahimovic claimed that he had not received any payment from EA Sports for using his name and likeness in its games.
Before, footballers were only paid for playing. Nowadays, however, football has become a cash-rich sport involving sponsorships and brandings.
Companies and brands try to cash in on the massive appeal that football clubs have with their supporters by using the club to advertise their products.
To protect their interests and ensure they are adequately compensated in this capitalism-oriented sport, agents have introduced an image rights clause in their clients' contracts. David Beckham was one of the first footballers to have an image rights clause in his contract, and later, other players followed suit.
Footballers are now questioning FIFPro and EA Sports' role in cashing in their names and likenesses without compensating them. With no response from both parties, and with FIFA 22 out, it remains to be seen how long they ignore the noise.