FIFA bans 'patriotic' Rosberg from wearing helmet displaying WC trophy

FIFA has banned Mercedes racer Nico Rosberg from celebrating Germany's World Cup victory by wearing a picture of the trophy on his helmet.

The German driver wanted to pay tribute to Joachim Low's squad, who triumphed for the fourth time in the World Cup, at his home Grand Prix at Hockenheim on Sunday.

However, FIFA threatened legal action against Rosberg's helmet, emblazoned with the German national, the World Cup trophy and a star for each of the country's four triumphs, and forced the racer into changing the design, The Mirror reported.

The football's world governing body caught wind of Rosberg's plans when the German tweeted a picture of it and contacted the racer's manager Georg Nolte to order him to remove the image due to an infringement of intellectual property rights.

A FIFA spokesperson said that they cannot allow a commercially branded helmet to feature the FIFA World Cup trophy, as this would jeopardise the rights of their commercial affiliates.

The spokesperson said that they appreciate Rosberg's desire to congratulate the German team and have therefore been in discussions with his team to attempt to find a solution, whereby he is still able to show his support for Germany without using FIFA intellectual property in a commercial context.

Rosberg has changed his helmet again and it now figures the four stars more prominently complete with each of the years in which the Germans have won the World Cup.

Rosberg said that he was surprised, but he fully understands, and added that it was a pity because the helmet looked really cool with the trophy on top.