Brand Bale! Spurs forward follows Beckham and Ronaldo after trademarking 'Eleven of Hearts' goal celebration

Gareth Bale is following in the footsteps of Cristiano Ronaldo and David Beckham by creating his own brand – after trademarking his goal celebration.

The Tottenham and Wales forward scooped all the end of season individual honours after an outstanding season at White Hart Lane.

And now Bale is set to capitalise on his memorable season and cash in on his heart shape celebration and shirt number.

 Familiar: And Gareth Bale hopes to keep the celebration limited to himself

The ‘Eleven Of Hearts’ logo is the first step in marketing the Tottenham star as a global brand.

And it could see the Welshman net over £10million a year in endorsements alone.

Bale already pockets £2m a year from Adidas and has signed up to be the face of BT Sport next season.

An independent tribunal will decide in the next two months whether he can trademark the logo.

Should it give him the green light, the Tottenham forward will then have a powerful icon which he can incorporate into his image rights.

According to papers filed at the Intellectual Property Office, the logo is designed to appear on ‘clothing, footwear and headgear’ among other merchandise.

  There you have it: Gareth Bale's application, including an image of the logo he would like to trademark

That could stand to make him up to £3million a year, according to Nigel Currie, director of sports marketing agency brand-rapport.

He said: 'The possibilities are huge for Gareth Bale. Once he has that right he can cash in on it and become a more well-known player.

'A third of his overall income could be made from his image rights, potentially up to £3million a year.'

 

Market leaders: Cristiano Ronaldo and David Beckham have successfully created brands off the pitch

Bale first incorporated the heart sign in to his goal celebration in 2010. He revealed afterwards that he did it as a gesture to his childhood sweetheart Emma Rhys-Jones, with whom he had a daughter last year.

Former England captain David Beckham nets £26m a year from endorsements, while Ronaldo picks up over £13m for his.

The Spurs star has been linked with an £85m summer move to Real Madrid and if he makes the move to the Bernabeu then he could be catapulted into another pay bracket.

Clasped: Bale shows off his celebration each time he finds the back of the net

It is a similar move to the one Ronaldo made when his CR7 range was branded across his Nike football boots and boots and sportswear and is also the name of his clothes boutiques.

Beckham’s earnings are set to continue long into his retirement and over the years started his own range of underwear and aftershave — paving the way for the likes of Ronaldo and Bale to cash in on markets away from football.

Bale will no doubt be hoping that the ‘Eleven Of Hearts’ can take off in the same way.



By: Dailymail.co.uk