The poet Sarhan places "Doctor Football" between the moment of the image and the eternity of the statue.
In player contracts with their clubs, there are clauses that detail image rights. Yes, image rights, which are also valued at astronomical figures.
The term "image" here is a comprehensive one, encompassing personal likeness, name and title, voice, signature, number, and anything else that pertains to the player alone, as it is used in promotions, video games, and advertising campaigns… just as it is employed for humanitarian purposes such as sponsorship, awareness, and solidarity…
The paradox is clear in this matter; football elevates the status of the face, as the higher the player's profile, the higher the market value of their image. Some even earn multiples from their image compared to what they make from playing. We only need to review the earnings of Messi, Cristiano, and Neymar for every post on Instagram to grasp the level of madness that money has reached.
Off the field, a player's image is not only defined by their hairstyle and the soles of their shoes in terms of clothing and accessories, but it extends beyond their body to include their home, family, habits, and hobbies… and can even encompass the pets they raise. Any appearance they make in this or that magazine or channel brings in revenue… truly remarkable.
On the field, where thousands of fans fill the stands and millions watch from outside, a player's image must be exhausted to the last drop. Cameras alone are not enough to achieve that.
Thus, the star who skillfully dribbles to elicit gasps of admiration and scores goals that ignite cheers across continents… is the same star who protests, spits, regrets, apologizes, celebrates, strips, schemes, assaults, seeks revenge, gets injured, falls, bleeds, suffers, and is carried off on a stretcher… while the cameras capture all of this in vivid detail. The player is the heart of the broadcast, and everything that happens to them on the field is the pulse that keeps the channels alive.