At the 2022 World Cup, Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi were the top two players in intellectual property protection, with many trademarks registered for protection. But at the 2026 World Cup, the positions of Ronaldo and Messi were replaced by Mbappe and Yamal. They exclusively protected names, nicknames, sayings and especially symbolic celebration poses for commercial exploitation.
Kylian Mbappe is one of the players who best protects intellectual property in the sports world with about 15 trademarks protected in the European Union (EU). For example, Mbappe has registered for protection for his name and letters, including abbreviations (KM); exclusively registered celebration images with the familiar arm-crossing style... In addition, the saying "don't tell me about age" and "football has changed" are also registered for trademark protection by Mbappe.
Mbappe has registered to protect these things to the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO), headquartered in Alicante, and from there they ensure that third parties do not profit financially from their projects.
With Yamal, he has also registered 7 community trademarks to EUIPO until 2035, to prepare for his own business projects in the future. Among them, there are two trademarks bearing his full name and five other trademarks using the number 304. The term "Lamine Yamal" has also been jointly registered, along with trademarks such as "LY304", "304" and "304 FC", as well as two other image trademarks depicting his fingers forming the number 304 in celebrations.
In which, 304 is the last three digits of the postal code of the poor neighborhood of Rocafonda, Mataro (Barcelona), where he was born.
Some other players also registered for personal trademark protection such as Vinicius, Cole Palmer, Jude Bellingham, Jamal Musiala, Viktor Gyokeres, Neymar Junior, Karim Benzema, Kvaratskhelia.
Meanwhile, Haaland of Norway, Kimmich and Neuer of Germany, Calhanoglu of Turkey, Raphinha of Brazil, Van Dijk and De Jong of the Netherlands, De Bruyne of Belgium, Pedri and Huijsen of Spain, Julian Alvarez and MacAllister of Argentina, Harry Kane of England, Fede Valverde of Uruguay and Vitinha of Portugal all registered for personal trademark protection.
Not only players, some top coaches also come to EUIPO, to protect personal brands, serving business purposes such as Unai Emery, Arbeloa, Rafa Benítez, Fabio Capello, Jose Mourinho, Jurgen Klopp or Vincent Kompany.
