Key points
- Image rights in football are governed mainly by the player’s employment contract. There is no single football rule that settles the question.
- Collective, institutional use (team photos, matchday material, club promotion) is usually covered. Using one player to advertise a third party’s product is a different matter and generally needs clear contractual permission or the player’s consent.
- In Turkey, the Civil Code, the Law on Intellectual and Artistic Works and the Personal Data Protection Law all apply alongside the contract.
- Most disputes start with a vague clause. Precise drafting prevents them.
Why image rights cause disputes
A player’s name and image sell shirts, fill social media feeds and attract sponsors. Clubs naturally want to use them as widely as possible. Players, especially those with personal sponsorship deals, want to control which brands they are associated with. When the contract does not clearly separate these interests, conflict follows.
Image rights in football: the international framework
FIFA’s Regulations on the Status and Transfer of Players do not contain a detailed regime for image rights. The question is left to the employment contract, national law and, where they exist, collective agreements between leagues, federations and player unions.
Image rights also appear in disputes for another reason. Some clubs pay part of a player’s remuneration under a separate image rights agreement. In several cases before FIFA’s dispute resolution bodies and CAS, panels have examined whether such payments were in substance part of the player’s salary. The answer can affect what a player is owed if the club stops paying or terminates the contract. Players and agents should therefore treat any separate image rights agreement as part of the overall employment package, not as a side arrangement.
The Turkish legal framework
For a player at a Turkish club, the contract is the starting point, but it operates within national law:
- Turkish Civil Code (Articles 24 and 25). A person’s name and image are protected as part of their personality rights. An interference is unlawful unless it is justified by the person’s consent, an overriding private or public interest, or the law. The player can ask a court to prevent or stop the interference and claim compensation.
- Law on Intellectual and Artistic Works (Article 86). Portraits of a person generally cannot be published without that person’s consent.
- Personal Data Protection Law (KVKK). A photograph or video of an identifiable player is personal data. The club needs a valid legal basis under Article 5 to process it and must inform the player under Article 10. Performance of the employment contract or the club’s legitimate interest may cover ordinary institutional use. Using the player’s image to promote a sponsor’s product is much harder to justify on those grounds, and explicit consent is the safer basis.
In practice, this means a broad clause such as “the club may use the player’s image for all promotional purposes” offers a Turkish club less protection than it appears to. Whether it covers a specific sponsor campaign will depend on how clearly the player agreed to that type of use.
Institutional use versus personal endorsement
The distinction that matters most is between promoting the club and endorsing a product.
Usually covered by a standard contract:
- Team and squad photographs
- Matchday programmes and official club publications
- General promotion of the club, its matches and its competitions
Usually needs specific permission:
- Campaigns where one player appears alone to advertise a sponsor’s product
- Use in categories the player may object to, such as betting, alcohol or fast food
- Use that conflicts with the player’s own sponsorship contracts
Because an individual campaign suggests that the player personally recommends the product, it goes beyond promoting the club. This is where clubs face the greatest legal risk.
A high-profile example
In 2022, Kylian Mbappé declined to take part in a French national team sponsor photo session, objecting to the collective image rights arrangement and to being associated with certain brands. The French federation subsequently agreed to review the arrangement. The episode showed that even long-standing collective agreements can be challenged when they force players into associations they do not accept.
What a good image rights clause should include
For clubs:
- Define exactly what counts as institutional use and what counts as commercial use
- List the media and channels covered, including social media
- State whether individual sponsor campaigns are included and, if so, on what terms
- Set the duration, including use after the player leaves the club
- Address KVKK information and consent requirements in the contract itself
For players and agents:
- Limit the club’s rights to collective and institutional use
- Keep personal endorsements outside the club’s rights
- Require written consent for each individual sponsor campaign
- Exclude product categories the player does not want to be associated with
- Check how any separate image rights payments relate to salary and termination
Frequently asked questions
Can a Turkish club use a player’s photo in a sponsor’s advert without consent?
Only if the contract clearly allows that type of use. A general promotional clause is often not enough for an individual sponsor campaign, and personality rights and KVKK requirements also apply.
Are image rights payments part of a player’s salary?
Not automatically, but disputes have examined whether payments made under separate image rights agreements were in substance remuneration. The structure of the agreement matters.
Can a player stop a club from using their image after leaving?
That depends on the contract. If it does not address post-contract use, continued commercial use of the player’s image becomes difficult to justify.
EightSports advises players and clubs on image rights, sponsorship and contract negotiation. See our legal services.
