An obstacle for Haaland. The Man City star can't register his trademark for an unusual reason

Erling Haaland has found himself entangled in an unexpected legal battle that's stalling his plans to capitalize on his own name. The Manchester City striker wanted to register 'Erling Haaland' as a trademark, but was met with a surprise at the patent office: the same mark is already owned by a 29-year-old Pole living in Oslo. This was reported by Meczyki.

The Norwegian forward's lawyers launched a lengthy legal campaign. They managed to prove that the previous registration was made in bad faith—solely to profit off the footballer's success. In September, they won the case at the EU Intellectual Property Office, expecting that the path to registering the name was finally clear.

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But the situation took another twist: the Pole filed an appeal literally on the last day of the deadline. Now the case will be reviewed once again, and Haaland will have to wait for a new decision.