Image Rights Licensing Agreements for International Athletes in Turkey – 2026 Updated Legal Guide

A 2026 legal guide to image rights licensing agreements for international athletes in Turkey, covering sponsorships, club use, social media, trademarks, AI-generated images, merchandising, exclusivity, taxation, personal data, termination, and unauthorized commercial use.

Professional athletes are no longer commercially valuable only because of their sporting performance. Their name, photograph, face, likeness, voice, signature, nickname, jersey number, social media identity, personal brand, and public reputation may generate substantial commercial revenue independently from their salary.

For international athletes competing or conducting commercial activities in Turkey, these assets may be used in sponsorship campaigns, advertisements, social media, merchandise, club promotions, video games, mobile applications, documentaries, trading cards, digital platforms, and increasingly artificial intelligence-generated content.

This creates an important legal question:

Who has the right to commercially exploit an international athlete’s image in Turkey?

The answer is rarely as simple as “the club” or “the athlete.”

Turkish law does not regulate all commercial image rights through one standalone “image rights statute.” Protection can arise through several overlapping areas, including personality rights, intellectual property law, contract law, unfair competition principles, advertising regulation, personal data protection, and sports regulations.

Article 86 of Law No. 5846 on Intellectual and Artistic Works provides an important statutory foundation: pictures and portraits generally cannot be exhibited or otherwise disclosed to the public without the consent of the person depicted, subject to specified exceptions. The same provision preserves protections arising under Article 24 of the Turkish Civil Code. (Dünya Fikri Mülkiyet Örgütü)

For international athletes and the businesses contracting with them, a carefully drafted image rights licensing agreement is therefore essential.

1. What Are an Athlete’s Image Rights?

In commercial sports practice, “image rights” is used as a broad expression covering the commercial exploitation of attributes identifying an athlete.

Depending on the agreement, these can include:

• photographs;
• physical likeness;
• name and surname;
• nickname;
• signature;
• voice;
• jersey number;
• personal logo;
• social media identity;
• biography;
• recorded appearances;
• distinctive celebrations or branding elements.

Not every element is necessarily protected under exactly the same legal rule.

A properly drafted agreement should therefore identify each licensed asset instead of simply stating that “all image rights” are transferred.

2. Are Athlete Image Rights Protected in Turkey?

Yes.

Article 86 of Law No. 5846 provides that pictures and portraits generally may not be exhibited or otherwise disclosed publicly without the consent of the depicted person, subject to statutory exceptions such as certain current-event uses. (Dünya Fikri Mülkiyet Örgütü)

Personality rights under the Turkish Civil Code provide an additional layer of protection.

Consequently, the fact that an athlete is famous does not mean that their face can automatically be used to sell products.

3. Public Figure Status Does Not Mean Unlimited Commercial Use

This distinction is extremely important.

Professional athletes are public figures, and photographs taken during public sporting events may sometimes be lawfully used in circumstances connected with reporting current events.

However, editorial use and commercial endorsement are fundamentally different questions.

A newspaper publishing a match photograph is not equivalent to a company placing the same athlete’s face on a billboard suggesting that the athlete endorses its products.

Article 86 contains exceptions relating to certain public figures and current events, but it expressly preserves personality-right protections. (Dünya Fikri Mülkiyet Örgütü)

A brand should therefore never assume that an athlete’s celebrity status creates unrestricted commercial licensing rights.

4. What Is an Image Rights Licensing Agreement?

An image rights licensing agreement authorizes another party to use specified aspects of the athlete’s identity for defined purposes.

The licensee could be:

a sports club, sponsor, sportswear company, broadcaster, video-game publisher, advertising agency, merchandise company, digital platform, event organizer, or another commercial partner.

The agreement should determine exactly what the licensee can and cannot do.

5. License Versus Complete Transfer

One of the first drafting questions concerns the nature of the rights granted.

In most commercial arrangements, the athlete does not need to surrender permanent control over their identity.

Instead, the agreement can provide a limited license covering specified:

uses, products, territories, media, campaigns, and periods.

Broad language purporting to transfer every present and future right permanently should be reviewed particularly carefully.

6. Individual Image Rights and Club Image Rights

International athletes joining Turkish clubs should distinguish between individual image rights and collective team-related promotional rights.

A club may reasonably require the ability to use an athlete’s photograph for matters such as:

• squad announcements;
• match promotion;
• team photographs;
• club websites;
• official applications;
• ticket campaigns;
• ordinary club communications.

That does not necessarily mean the club should automatically receive unrestricted authority to license the athlete individually to third-party advertisers.

The player contract and separate image-rights agreement should define the boundary.

7. Can a Turkish Club Use a Foreign Athlete’s Image?

Potentially, yes, particularly where the player’s contract or another agreement grants appropriate rights.

However, the permitted use should be defined.

A provision allowing the club to use an athlete’s image for club promotion should not automatically be interpreted as authorization for every unrelated third-party commercial campaign.

High-value athletes should carefully examine clauses granting clubs sublicensing authority.

8. Club Sponsors and Athlete Images

A common dispute occurs when a club sponsor wants individual athletes to appear in advertising.

Suppose an international footballer signs with a Turkish club whose principal sponsor is a financial company.

The sponsor wants the athlete to appear alone in a nationwide advertising campaign.

The club’s sponsorship rights do not necessarily establish that the club can grant such an individual endorsement.

The athlete’s contractual arrangements must be reviewed.

9. Collective Use Clauses

Clubs frequently negotiate broader rights for collective promotional use.

For example, a contract might distinguish between:

individual athlete advertising and campaigns featuring several members of the squad.

The precise distinction should be defined contractually.

Otherwise, a sponsor might attempt to construct a nominally “team-based” campaign that commercially focuses almost entirely on one internationally recognized athlete.

10. Sponsorship Agreements

Athletes can also license image rights directly to sponsors.

A sponsorship agreement may authorize use in:

television advertisements, social media, billboards, digital advertising, websites, packaging, promotional events, and point-of-sale materials.

The agreement should identify each authorized category.

A generic clause allowing use “for all advertising purposes worldwide forever” can create substantial long-term risk for the athlete.

11. Territory Must Be Defined

International athletes have commercial value across multiple jurisdictions.

A Turkish sponsor may need rights only in Turkey.

Granting worldwide rights unnecessarily can interfere with existing or future sponsorships elsewhere.

Licenses can therefore be limited to:

Turkey, specified countries, a region, or worldwide territory, depending on the commercial transaction.

12. Duration Is Critical

Image rights should not remain commercially exploitable indefinitely unless that is genuinely intended.

The agreement should specify:

• commencement date;
• expiration date;
• renewal procedure;
• campaign wind-down period;
• post-termination removal deadline.

Automatic renewal provisions should also be examined carefully.

13. Post-Termination Use

This is one of the most frequently overlooked provisions.

Suppose a foreign athlete leaves a Turkish club.

Can the club continue selling merchandise containing the athlete’s photograph?

Can a sponsor continue running an old advertisement?

Can previously published social media posts remain online?

The agreement should answer these questions before the relationship ends.

14. Existing Merchandise

Immediate destruction of every product after termination may be commercially unrealistic.

Parties can therefore negotiate a limited sell-off period for inventory already manufactured.

The period, quantities, territories, and royalty treatment should be clearly defined.

15. Social Media Rights

Modern athlete licensing agreements must specifically address social media.

The agreement should determine whether the sponsor can:

repost athlete content, tag the athlete, use photographs in paid advertisements, boost posts, create sponsored stories, use content on third-party platforms, or retain posts after the campaign ends.

Paid-media usage is particularly important because it can dramatically extend the commercial reach of an athlete’s image.

16. Athlete’s Own Social Media Obligations

Some endorsement agreements require the athlete personally to publish content.

The contract should specify:

number of posts, platforms, timing, content format, disclosure obligations, approval procedure, required hashtags, campaign links, and duration for which posts must remain visible.

Vague obligations such as “reasonable social media support” frequently create disputes.

17. Advertising Disclosure Requirements

Commercial athlete endorsements must also comply with Turkish advertising law.

If an athlete receives payment or another commercial benefit for promotional content, the commercial character of the communication may need to be appropriately disclosed.

Image rights licensing and advertising compliance are therefore related but separate issues.

Obtaining permission to use the athlete’s face does not automatically make the resulting advertisement lawful.

18. Product Exclusivity

International athletes frequently have multiple sponsors.

An agreement should define the sponsor’s protected product category carefully.

For example, “sportswear” could include:

shoes, performance clothing, casual clothing, accessories, equipment, wearable technology, or several unrelated product groups.

Overly broad exclusivity can prevent an athlete from entering valuable future partnerships.

19. Competitor Definitions

Contracts should define what constitutes a competitor.

If an athlete signs with a sports drink company, does exclusivity prevent:

• bottled water sponsorship;
• nutritional products;
• protein products;
• energy drinks;
• coffee brands?

Ambiguity can become expensive.

20. Conflicts With Existing Sponsors

Before signing a Turkish image rights agreement, international athletes should disclose relevant existing commercial commitments.

The new agreement should be checked against:

personal sponsorships, club sponsorships, federation agreements, national-team sponsorships, equipment contracts, and previous image licenses.

The athlete should avoid granting rights already exclusively licensed elsewhere.

21. National Team Rights

A foreign athlete playing for a Turkish club may simultaneously represent their national team.

National-team commercial rights can be subject to separate federation agreements.

A Turkish sponsor should not assume that rights obtained through the athlete or club extend to photographs showing national-team uniforms, trademarks, or competition imagery.

22. Federation and Competition Rights

Professional competitions may impose additional commercial rules.

League logos, tournament footage, official match photographs, broadcast footage, and competition trademarks may belong to parties other than the athlete.

An athlete can generally license only rights they actually control.

23. Photographers’ Copyright

Another important distinction concerns the photograph itself.

The athlete may control commercial use of their likeness, while a photographer or agency may hold intellectual property rights in the photograph.

Therefore, obtaining the athlete’s permission does not automatically provide the right to reproduce any photograph found online.

Both layers of rights should be cleared where necessary.

24. Video Footage

The same principle applies to video.

A sponsor may have permission from the athlete but not from the broadcaster, producer, league, club, or other owner of the footage.

Commercial use should therefore be analyzed asset by asset.

25. Merchandising Rights

Athlete images may be used on:

shirts, posters, trading cards, collectibles, calendars, accessories, memorabilia, toys, and digital products.

The agreement should specify whether merchandising is included.

Advertising rights should not automatically be treated as merchandise-production rights.

26. Royalty-Based Licensing

Athletes can receive compensation through:

fixed licensing fees, royalties, minimum guarantees, performance bonuses, or combinations of these mechanisms.

Where royalties are used, the agreement should define net sales, permitted deductions, reporting periods, payment deadlines, currency, and audit rights.

27. Audit Rights

International athletes licensing valuable merchandising rights should consider contractual audit protections.

Without audit rights, it may be difficult to determine whether the licensee accurately reported sales.

The agreement can specify record-retention obligations and procedures for independent financial review.

28. Use of the Athlete’s Name

An athlete’s commercial identity extends beyond photographs.

Names and nicknames may be commercially valuable.

A sponsor should therefore obtain appropriate rights before using the athlete’s name on:

product lines, advertisements, websites, domain names, promotional campaigns, or merchandise.

29. Athlete Trademarks

High-profile athletes increasingly register their names, initials, personal logos, or slogans as trademarks.

Where registered trademarks are involved, the licensing agreement should distinguish trademark rights from general personality or image rights.

Quality-control provisions may also be appropriate.

30. Personal Data Protection

An athlete’s image can also engage Turkish personal-data law.

Law No. 6698 defines and regulates personal-data processing, while biometric information constitutes a special category where technical processing enables unique identification. The current Article 6 framework reflects amendments made in 2024 and remains relevant in 2026. (KVKK)

Not every ordinary photograph automatically constitutes biometric data merely because a face appears in it. However, facial images subjected to technical processing for unique identification can raise enhanced biometric-data concerns. Turkish Data Protection Authority decisions have specifically addressed biometric processing and facial-image-related concepts. (KVKK)

31. Image Rights Consent and Data Protection Consent Are Not Identical

This distinction matters.

Contractual permission to use an athlete’s image and compliance with personal-data processing requirements should not simply be treated as interchangeable concepts.

The parties should determine:

what data is processed, for what purpose, on which legal basis, for how long, by whom, and whether it will be transferred to third parties or abroad.

This becomes particularly important for global campaigns.

32. International Data Transfers

A multinational sponsor may store campaign assets on servers outside Turkey or provide them to international agencies.

Turkey’s personal-data framework governing transfers abroad was materially revised in 2024.

Consequently, international athlete campaigns should separately examine cross-border data-transfer compliance rather than relying exclusively on the image rights agreement.

33. Artificial Intelligence and Athlete Images

Artificial intelligence has created an entirely new category of licensing risk.

A brand may want to use an athlete’s licensed photographs to create:

synthetic advertisements, altered poses, virtual avatars, digital replicas, localized video content, synthetic voice, or AI-generated promotional material.

Traditional image-rights language may not adequately cover these uses.

34. AI Training Rights Should Be Addressed Separately

A particularly important contractual issue in 2026 is whether licensed photographs or recordings can be used to train artificial intelligence systems.

Permission to use an athlete’s photograph in an advertisement should not automatically be assumed to authorize use of that photograph to build a reusable digital model of the athlete.

Modern agreements should separately address:

AI training, model creation, digital replicas, synthetic media, voice cloning, and generative content.

35. Digital Avatars

Video games, virtual environments, interactive platforms, and emerging digital services increasingly use realistic athlete avatars.

A license should define whether it covers:

• three-dimensional scans;
• motion capture;
• facial mapping;
• digital twins;
• avatars;
• virtual merchandise.

These rights may have substantial independent economic value.

36. Voice Rights and Voice Cloning

Commercial identity is not limited to visual appearance.

Sponsors increasingly use athlete voices in advertisements and digital applications.

AI technology can now reproduce a person’s voice with remarkable accuracy.

An agreement should therefore distinguish between recorded voice use and permission to create a synthetic voice model.

37. Morality Clauses

Sponsors frequently require morality or reputation clauses.

These provisions can permit suspension or termination following serious events involving:

criminal conduct, doping, match manipulation, discriminatory behavior, or specified reputation-damaging conduct.

Athletes should ensure that the clause contains sufficiently objective triggers and appropriate procedures.

A sponsor should not necessarily receive unlimited discretion to terminate simply because an athlete becomes temporarily unpopular online.

38. Injury and Performance Clauses

Image value can be affected by injury or reduced sporting performance.

Some agreements attempt to reduce compensation if the athlete is unavailable for extended periods.

Such clauses should clearly distinguish:

sporting availability from the athlete’s continuing ability to provide advertising and endorsement services.

An injured athlete may still retain substantial commercial value.

39. Transfer to Another Club

International athletes frequently change clubs.

The agreement should anticipate this possibility.

A personal sponsor may want to continue the relationship, while existing promotional materials might contain the former club’s uniform or trademarks.

The contract should establish procedures for replacing those assets after a transfer.

40. Termination of the Athlete’s Club Contract

Leaving a club should not automatically terminate an independent personal sponsorship unless the agreement says so.

Conversely, certain sponsorships may be commercially dependent on the athlete playing for a particular team.

The relationship between the two contracts should therefore be explicitly addressed.

41. Unauthorized Commercial Use

If a company uses an international athlete’s image in Turkey without appropriate authorization, several legal remedies may potentially arise depending on the circumstances.

These can include claims seeking:

cessation of unlawful use, prevention of continued infringement, removal of content, compensation for economic loss, non-material compensation, and other appropriate remedies.

Article 86 of Law No. 5846 specifically restricts unauthorized public disclosure of pictures and portraits and references liability consequences while preserving Turkish Civil Code protections. (Dünya Fikri Mülkiyet Örgütü)

42. Emergency Removal of Unauthorized Advertising

Digital advertising spreads extremely quickly.

An unauthorized campaign involving a famous athlete can reach millions of consumers before ordinary litigation concludes.

Where legally available, urgent judicial measures may therefore become important.

Evidence should first be preserved through screenshots, URLs, campaign records, photographs, and other appropriate methods before unlawful content disappears.

43. Damages for Unauthorized Image Use

Calculating damages can be complex.

One relevant commercial question may be:

What would the athlete reasonably have charged for the use that occurred?

Other factors can include duration, territory, campaign scale, commercial value, reputational consequences, media exposure, and the nature of the unauthorized association.

High-profile athletes may require expert valuation evidence.

44. Governing Law

International athlete agreements frequently involve parties from several countries.

The contract should specify governing law.

If Turkish law is selected, the parties should understand how Turkish mandatory rules concerning personality rights, advertising, intellectual property, and data protection interact with contractual freedom.

A foreign-law clause does not necessarily eliminate every mandatory Turkish-law issue where commercial exploitation occurs in Turkey.

45. Dispute Resolution

High-value image rights contracts should contain carefully drafted dispute-resolution clauses.

Possible mechanisms include:

Turkish courts, institutional arbitration, or another agreed international dispute-resolution mechanism, depending on the relationship.

The agreement should address seat, language, applicable rules, governing law, and enforceability.

46. 2026 Legal Checklist for International Athletes

Before signing an image rights agreement connected with Turkey, an international athlete should carefully verify:

licensed identity elements, permitted uses, territory, duration, media, social media rights, club rights, sublicensing, individual versus collective use, exclusivity, competitor definitions, merchandise rights, athlete obligations, approval rights, compensation, royalties, audit rights, intellectual property ownership, data processing, international transfers, AI training, digital replicas, synthetic voice, morality clauses, injury provisions, transfer scenarios, termination, post-termination use, dispute resolution, and unauthorized-use remedies.

The agreement should also identify precisely what the athlete is not licensing.

That can be just as important as defining the rights granted.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. Are international athletes’ image rights protected in Turkey?

Yes. Turkish law provides several overlapping protections. In particular, Article 86 of Law No. 5846 generally restricts public disclosure of pictures and portraits without consent, subject to specified exceptions, while Turkish Civil Code personality-right protections remain reserved. (Dünya Fikri Mülkiyet Örgütü)

2. Can a Turkish club use a foreign player’s image without separate payment?

It depends on the player’s contract and other applicable agreements. A club may have negotiated certain promotional rights, but those rights should not automatically be assumed to include unlimited individual commercial endorsements or sublicensing to third parties.

3. Can a club sponsor use an athlete’s image in advertising?

Only where the necessary rights have been validly obtained. The fact that a company sponsors the athlete’s club does not automatically provide unrestricted individual image rights over every player.

4. Can an athlete license image rights to several brands?

Yes, potentially. However, existing exclusivity and competitor restrictions must be reviewed. Conflicting licenses can expose the athlete to contractual claims.

5. Can an athlete’s image be used after the licensing agreement expires?

Only to the extent permitted by the agreement or another applicable legal basis. The contract should specify post-termination removal periods, archived social media, existing advertising materials, and any inventory sell-off period.

6. Does permission to use an athlete’s photograph include merchandise?

Not necessarily. Advertising, merchandising, trademark licensing, social media use, and other forms of commercial exploitation should be separately defined.

7. Can a brand create an AI version of an athlete if it already licenses the athlete’s photographs?

This should not be assumed. AI-generated replicas, model training, facial mapping, synthetic voice, and digital avatars can involve uses substantially different from conventional advertising. Modern agreements should expressly regulate them.

8. Can an athlete stop unauthorized advertising using their image in Turkey?

Potentially, yes. Depending on the circumstances, Turkish law may provide remedies aimed at stopping unlawful use, preventing further publication, removing content, and obtaining compensation.

9. Are athlete photographs protected by personal data law?

An identifiable person’s image can involve personal-data considerations. Where facial images are technically processed to uniquely identify an individual, biometric-data rules may also become relevant. (KVKK)

10. What is the biggest contractual risk for international athletes licensing image rights in Turkey?

One of the greatest risks is granting rights that are too broad: worldwide, perpetual, transferable, sublicensable, applicable to every commercial medium, and broad enough to cover future technologies such as AI without additional compensation or approval.

Legal Support for International Athlete Image Rights in Turkey

For elite athletes, image rights can become one of the most valuable assets of their professional career. A poorly drafted agreement can unintentionally grant a club, sponsor, agency, or commercial partner extensive control over an athlete’s name, face, social media identity, merchandise, digital likeness, or future AI-generated representation.

Fırat Fesih Kaya provides legal assistance to international athletes, professional sports clubs, sponsors, agencies, and sports businesses concerning athlete image rights agreements, endorsement contracts, sponsorship licensing, club image rights, merchandising, trademark licensing, social media rights, athlete personality rights, unauthorized advertising, AI-generated athlete content, digital replicas, and sports-related commercial disputes in Turkey.

Before signing a high-value licensing agreement, legal review can help preserve the athlete’s long-term commercial independence, prevent conflicts between club and personal sponsors, define approval and exclusivity rights, protect emerging AI and digital-replica rights, and establish effective remedies against unauthorized commercial exploitation.

For a case-specific legal assessment or the preparation, negotiation, or review of an international athlete image rights licensing agreement in Turkey, you may contact our office.

Phone: +90 312 434 22 22
Mobile: +90 532 769 22 22
Email: info@firatfesihkaya.av.tr
Address: Mevlana Boulevard No: 221, Yıldırım Tower No: 148, 06520 Balgat, Çankaya, Ankara, Turkey