They are usually found clearly displayed on the shelves of press houses or supermarkets.
Preciously stored in the rooms of children who are passionate about football.
Or gathering dust in archives.
The classic life of a Panini album, which generations of fans have sought to complete with the famous vignettes depicting professional footballers.
But this Wednesday afternoon, several copies came to decorate the tables of one of the courtrooms of the Paris judicial court.
A trial to talk about images, or rather about image rights.
On one side, four footballers, ex or current, who have played in Ligue 1: Vincent Bessat, Bruno Ecuele-Manga, Jérémy Pied and the former Rennais now at Manchester City, the Belgian Jérémy Doku.
On the other hand, Panini, but also the union which delegates to the company the right to use the collective image, the UNFP, and its structure created to finance it, Promo-Foot.
At stake: knowing whether or not the French branch of the Italian company could sell these stickers.
“They never authorized Panini to exploit their image”
Initially, there were around fifteen plaintiffs, but the courts considered that the statute of limitations applied to the majority of them, including the former international and PSG midfielder, Jérôme Rothen.
There are only four of them left, absent this Wednesday afternoon but represented at the hearing by their lawyer, Me Elie Dottelonde.
“They have never authorized Panini or Promo-Foot to exploit their image,” points out their counsel, denouncing the absence of a contract signed by its clients and the “smoky arguments” of the opposing parties.
The only annual payment paid to his clients as a Ligue 1 player: 200 euros, says the lawyer.
“One of my clients signed a contract with an equipment manufacturer for at least 200,000 euros per year,” continues Me Elie Dottelonde, referring to the case of Jérémy Doku.
There is still a gap.
»
“It’s the confrontation of two worlds: the individual and the collective,” counters Me Rémi Kleiman, lawyer for the UNFP.
This is something they could probably exploit better individually.
What drives them is individual financial appetite.
» The union, for its part, hides behind the charter of professional football, a collective agreement recognized by the French football federation, and its article 280.
“The issue is the current economic model”
“It creates additional rights,” insists Me Rémi Kleiman.
That the applicants do not dispute when it allows them to wear the pair of shoes of their choice, without asking permission from their club.
» The money collected, under this collective right, allows the UNFP to “finance collective works in the interest of the players” including the nest egg, a supplementary retirement plan.
“A collective agreement which manages the image rights of players, I had never heard that one”, points out Me Elie Dottelonde, who affirms “that no accounting document establishes the use which is made of these funds.
The four footballers they represent are demanding between 100,000 and 250,000 euros in damages.
“One euro of damage would be one euro too many and would call into question this balance,” says Panini France’s lawyer, Me Robert Chemla.
The issue is the current economic model.
» “If we eliminate the Panini contract, we eliminate the source of income for the UNFP and we eliminate the collective and egalitarian representation of the players,” adds the union council, which asks that the four players be dismissed.
The judgment was reserved until May 15.