About 300 footballers are considering filing a lawsuit against Electronic Arts over what they believe to be illegal use of their appearance in FIFA games. This was stated in an interview with The Telegraph by Zlatan Ibrahimovic's agent Mino Raiola.
On November 23, Ibrahimovic tweeted that he has not given permission to use his image to a number of organizations, including EA Sports. The athlete said that the companies he indicated "Somebody is making profit on my name and face without any agreement all these years." He called for an investigation.
Who gave FIFA EA Sport permission to use my name and face? @FIFPro? I’m not aware to be a member of Fifpro and if I am I was put there without any real knowledge through some weird manouver.
— Zlatan Ibrahimović (@Ibra_official) November 23, 2020
And for sure I never allowed @FIFAcom or Fifpro to make money using me
Representatives of EA Sports responded by saying that the company has the rights to use the appearance of all the players that are represented in its franchises. The publisher enters into contracts with leagues, teams and individual athletes.
According to Raiola, such contracts are illegitimate. He stated that FIFA, the Professional Footballers' Association and other organizations profit from selling what does not belong to them. Only the players themselves can control the rights to their image, not the clubs or leagues.
FC Milan, for which Ibrahimovic stands, signed a partnership agreement with EA Sports in August 2020. In the announcement of the agreement between Milan and EA Sports, it is said that it includes the addition of the football team and the home stadium of San Siro to the simulator.
Earlier, Ibrahimovic presented his team members with PlayStation 5 game consoles. After that, the player was given a new nickname on the Internet - Zanta Claus.
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