Football stars must protect online identities

According to a domain name specialist NetNames which used its proprietary Brand Audit software to survey sites using the name of England's Euro 2004 squad in their domain names, Real Madrid and England star David Beckham has more than 1111 website domains devoted to him registered by fans around the world, up from the 68 registered at the time of the FIFA 2002 World Cup.  Jonathan Robinson, director of business development at NetNames said "The iconic status of David Beckham has definitely been reinforced by these survey results, but they do highlight an important commercial message.  Many rising football stars have the potential to become huge brands in their own right, so they need to start protecting their online identities early on in their careers. By registering and retaining control of memorable website addresses, rising stars like Wayne Rooney can make sure that they do not fall into the hands of third-parties and potential domain name speculators."