FIFA 21: Ibrahimovic case, EA Sports releases a new press release, but there is an air of revolt among the players
The EA Sports press release directly addresses the issue of the rights of exploitation of the image of players, clarifying once and for all the position of the American publisher:
Regarding the recent discussions on player licensing in EA SPORTS FIFA, what's happening on social media is an attempt to engage FIFA 21 in a dispute between a number of third parties that has little to do with EA SPORTS.
To be extremely clear, we have the contractual rights to include the likeness of all players currently in our game. As stated above, we acquire these licenses directly from leagues, teams and individual players. Additionally, we work with FIFPro to make sure we can include as many players as possible to create the most authentic football game.
In the cases raised, our player likeness rights are granted through our agreement with AC Milan and our long-standing exclusive partnership with the Premier League, which includes all Tottenham Hotspur players.
The question always remains open: why right now? Ibrahimovic could not fail to know that he was included and reproduced in FIFA. To say, in 2017 he publicly expressed himself in favor of the series, also appearing in photos with his FUT card. According to what has been reconstructed by Fanpage.it, his exit could preclude the will of some players, including Gareth Bale, who immediately joined the Milan champion, to put pressure so as to be able to individually negotiate their rights, as done to example from David Beckham who got 45 million euros to be included in the game (he is now retired). Of course this would make them and their prosecutors more money ... but wasn't it better when the athletes in football games had fake names?
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