Lamine Yamal and Kylian Mbappe Dethrone Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi in Trademark Race at the 2026 World Cup

The young stars have surpassed the football legends in the battle for commercially protected trademarks linked to their names and personal brands.

French star Kylian Mbappé and Spain’s Lamine Yamal have overtaken football icons Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi at the 2026 FIFA World Cup in the United States, Mexico and Canada as the players with the highest number of trademarks registered for potential commercial use within the European Economic Area.

Four years ago, the Portuguese and Argentine legends were the undisputed kings of intellectual property in football. Today, however, Mbappé leads the way by a considerable margin, boasting 15 protected trademarks, including several phrases closely associated with his public image, such as “Moi tu m’parles pas d’âge” (“Don’t talk to me about age”).

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All of these trademarks have been registered with the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO), headquartered in Alicante, Spain, helping ensure that third parties cannot profit financially from the player’s image and brand.

In addition to protecting his name in various formats, the Real Madrid forward has also registered a silhouette depicting his trademark goal celebration: standing still with a smile, arms folded across his chest and hands tucked under his armpits.

LAMINE PUTS HIS NEIGHBOURHOOD ON THE MAP

Some distance behind, but still with an impressive seven trademarks, is Lamine Yamal, the second-most protected player at the World Cup. Among his registrations is “304”, a reference to the final three digits of the postal code of Rocafonda, the humble neighbourhood in Mataró, near Barcelona, where he grew up.

Alongside the numerical “304”, Yamal has also trademarked a figurative version of the number. The gesture involves crossing his arms and using the fingers of both hands to form the digits: extending three fingers on his left hand to represent the “3”, creating a circle with his thumb and index finger for the “0”, and shaping the “4” with the fingers of his right hand.

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Level with Yamal on seven registrations is Messi, whose portfolio includes his signature, name and logo. Just one trademark behind is Cristiano Ronaldo, whose protected assets include CR7, CR9, his name and logo, among others.

Brazilian winger Vinicius Junior has five trademarks to his name, including “BailaViniJr”. A trio of players follow with four registrations each: Chelsea’s Cole Palmer, whose portfolio includes a motion trademark linked to his famous “Cold Palmer” celebration and a close-up image of his face; fellow England international Jude Bellingham; and Bayern Munich star Jamal Musiala, whose registrations include “Magic Musiala”.

KVARATSKHELIA IN THE PROCESS

Further down the list are Arsenal striker Viktor Gyökeres, Neymar Jr. and Karim Benzema. Meanwhile, one of the breakout stars of the year, PSG’s Georgian winger Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, is in the process of expanding his intellectual property portfolio after filing applications for up to five trademarks.

Other players with registered trademarks include Norway’s Erling Haaland, Germany’s Joshua Kimmich and Manuel Neuer, Turkey’s Hakan Çalhanoğlu, Brazil’s Raphinha, Dutch internationals Virgil van Dijk and Frenkie de Jong, Belgium’s Kevin De Bruyne, Spain’s Pedri and Dean Huijsen, Argentina’s Julián Álvarez and Alexis Mac Allister, England captain Harry Kane, Uruguay’s Federico Valverde and Portugal’s Vitinha.

Players are not the only figures in football’s global shop window seeking to capitalize on their commercial appeal. Several high-profile coaches have also turned to the Alicante-based EU agency to protect their brands.

Among them are Spaniards Unai Emery, Álvaro Arbeloa and Rafa Benítez; Italian manager Fabio Capello; Portuguese coach José Mourinho, who has trademarked his famous nickname “The Special One”; Germany’s Jürgen Klopp; and Belgium’s Vincent Kompany.