If you’re a fan of the Selección de Fútbol de México, you may refer to the team as “El Tri.” Well, you might be surprised about a new alleged legal dispute. According to several outlets, Alex Lora, lead singer of Mexican rock band El Tri, just won sole rights to use the name.

However, the issue is a bit more complicated than that.

The Mexican Football Federation is reportedly asserting they are not involved in a lawsuit against Lora. They also made clear that they never registered the “El Tri” nickname. In fact, fans simply came up with the nickname decades ago, inspired by the soccer team’s red, green, and white uniform — a play on the Mexican flag.

So why all the talk about a legal dispute?

The reports may have stemmed from TV Azteca journalist David Medrano Félix, who allegedly stated that Lora won a lawsuit for sole rights to the nickname last week. Once headlines began to swirl about La Selección Mexicana losing rights to use “El Tri,” all hell broke loose.

The memes commenced, with X users joking: “The only thing El Tri needed was to lose against El Tri.” Is this a real-life version of the Spiderman pointing meme?

Still, a recent post on X by the band shows there is some truth to the drama. Here’s everything to know!

Can Mexico’s national fútbol team keep using the ‘El Tri’ nickname or not?

Journalist David Medrano Félix allegedly reported last week, “The singer Alex Lora won the legal battle for the name, ‘El Tri.'”

“The musician stated to the corresponding authorities that he was the first one to register the name ‘El Tri,'” he added. “[Lora said] that for that reason, the [Mexican Football Federation] cannot use the name as a commercial brand.”

Days later, on October 13, the band El Tri posted a statement on X, written by their lawyer, Celia García Guerrero.

“The maestro Alejandro Lora Serna is the only owner of the brand ‘El Tri’ in Mexico, United States, and other parts of the world,” the statement read. “It currently owns 30 registered brands for different products and services.”

The statement added that in 2014, the band “initiated a legal battle against Televisa and other entities that tried to register and use the name ‘El Tri’ without authorization of the owner.”

By 2019, federal authorities allegedly deemed that Lora would have exclusive rights to use and exploit the ‘El Tri’ brand. At least in the rock music genre, and “diverse products and services.”

As per the statement, Televisa, the Mexican Football Federation, and other entities need authorization from Lora to use the nickname.

“The national and international recognition and prestige of the name ‘El Tri’ is a result of arduous work and effort, not just from the Maestro Alejandro Lora, but of many other participants,” attorney García Guerrero added.

So while it does seem true that Lora owns the rights to the name “El Tri,” this is nothing new. At least according to the statement, the singer registered the brand in 1984. Plus, the last word of any legal disputes seemed to occur in 2019.

Meanwhile, another member of Lora’s legal team, Raúl Ávila, recently explained to Ventaneando: “This is not a new issue, it’s an issue from at least three years ago.”

“A sports analyst reported the information that we had sued the Mexican Football Federation, which is inexact,” he described. “The legal actions involved Televisa, and that was around the 2018 World Cup in Russia.”

The lawyer recalled “That was when Maestro Alex Lora and [his wife] Chela Lora, told us, ‘Look, they can’t use our brand, and relate us with Televisa, because ‘El Tri’ is ‘El Tri de Mexico. [They also said], ‘We don’t want to be related to Televisa or any other company.'”

So the reports are true — but actually, are nothing new.

Then, the memes commenced — and the Mexican Football Federation finally spoke out

Headlines about the band winning over the famous nickname continued to swirl all over social media. And yes, they translated to lots of hilarious memes.

For one, people joked about Alex Lora’s attitude to the Mexican Football Federation after successfully keeping the “El Tri” name:

And then, we got a very similar (and equally effective!) meme we can’t stop laughing at:

Meanwhile, the Mexican Football Federation reportedly responded to the rumors about the lawsuit. Marca reports that the federation took to Telegram to deny the news, writing, “The Mexican Football Federation is not involved in any litigation with Mr. Alex Lora for the use of any brand owned by [us].”

Adding, “El Tri is not a brand registered by the Mexican Football Federation.”

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