Avoiding Image Rights Payments
There is a fine line between individual image rights and team rights, which clubs own. In the case of the photo of Aguero celebrating his title-winning goal, were Manchester City to sell that as a poster, or use it on the cover of a DVD they would have to pay image rights to Aguero. With a picture of the entire team together, the club own those rights so they can use them freely. There is a guiding law used in football that three players need to be together in an image for it to be considered a ‘team’ right. There are also additional guides that state that not all three or more of the players can all be stars, that it has to include some of the ‘lesser’ names to be considered a team image. When a club unveil a new kit, they will usually group players together to make it a team photo rather than an individual photo, thus avoiding image rights issues (some clubs just pay the fees). If you have ever wondered how teams choose which players to include in kit launches – for eg. the biggest star, the second biggest star, and then three squad players, they have usually put some thought into image rights issues.
http://www.postmatch.org/251/ronaldo-beckham-aguero-football-image-rights/