LA Aztecs: Nearly Five Years of Fighting for Our Name. Now the Future Is Within Reach.
We expect a major trademark milestone in the United States, our football and entertainment application is moving forward in Britain, and our distinctive Aztecs bird is separately registered for clothing. After years of setbacks, the revival of the Los Angeles Aztecs is taking another step forward.
Nearly five years ago, I set out to bring the Los Angeles Aztecs back to life.
I knew it wouldn’t be easy. I didn’t realise quite how much of the journey would be spent fighting to protect the name and identity of a football club that last played in 1981.
There have been legal disputes, trademark oppositions, commercial setbacks and more correspondence with lawyers than I care to remember.
At times, it has felt like we were spending more energy trying to establish the right foundations for the club than actually building it.
But we have kept going.
And today, I have some important news to share.
We are expecting our United States trademark registration to be completed shortly, subject to final confirmation from the USPTO.
That would mark the culmination of a process that began in 2022 and has involved years of trademark work, legal disputes and determination to establish a future for the LA Aztecs name.
I will celebrate when the registration is formally confirmed. Until then, it remains an expected milestone rather than a completed one.
But after everything we have been through, reaching this stage means a great deal.
And there is more news from Britain.
A significant step forward for the Aztecs in the UK
On 28 October 2026, the UK Intellectual Property Office delivered its decision in our trademark dispute with Admiral Sportswear.
The outcome was mixed, but there is an important positive development for the football business.
Our LOS ANGELES AZTECS 1973 trademark application can proceed towards registration in Classes 35 and 41.
These classes include the commercial, sporting and entertainment services that are central to our plans for the club.
Admiral opposed our application in Class 25, covering clothing and merchandise, and succeeded in that opposition.
However, the company did not oppose Classes 35 and 41. The UKIPO therefore confirmed that our application could move forward in those classes.
That is not the same as winning a contested hearing over those services, and registration remains subject to completion of the applicable process.
But it is an important milestone.
For a project built around reviving a football club rather than simply selling retro clothing, those classes are central to our plans.
The football business is what we came to build. And that work continues.
Our Aztecs bird remains registered for clothing
There is another piece of good news.
Brands UTD Ltd holds a separate registered UK trademark, UK00004328878, protecting our distinctive Aztecs bird emblem.
That registration includes Class 25, which covers clothing and apparel.
It is separate from the complete LOS ANGELES AZTECS 1973 crest application opposed by Admiral.
The recent decision does not cancel that existing bird registration.
That is important to us.
The Aztecs bird represents the identity we are trying to bring back. It is the emblem I want to see on football shirts when the team finally returns to the pitch.
There is a legal distinction worth making. Our separate bird registration does not automatically settle the right to use the LA AZTECS wording on clothing in Britain, where Admiral holds an earlier registered word mark.
That issue remains to be resolved.
Nevertheless, we have an existing registered emblem covering apparel, and we intend to protect it.
The bird is part of our future, not simply our past.
What Admiral Sportswear won
Admiral owns the UK registered word trademark L.A. AZTECS, registration UK00004236940.
It opposed the clothing element of our LOS ANGELES AZTECS 1973 crest application on the basis that consumers might confuse the competing marks.
The UKIPO hearing officer found no likelihood of direct confusion.
However, he concluded that some consumers might believe the marks came from commercially connected businesses.
That is known as indirect confusion.
On that basis, Admiral’s Class 25 opposition succeeded.
Unless successfully appealed, the clothing element of our full crest application will be refused. A £1,000 costs award was also made against Brands UTD Ltd, subject to the applicable appeal arrangements.
I disagree with the result, but I believe supporters deserve an accurate account.
Admiral won that particular dispute.
It did not prevent our unopposed football and commercial-service classes from proceeding.
It did not cancel our separate bird registration.
And it did not settle every possible question concerning the competing trademark rights.
The February 2025 correspondence
There is an earlier chapter to this story.
Before Admiral claimed priority for its L.A. AZTECS trademark, representatives of the company were already discussing our LA Aztecs project with me.
On 20 February 2025, Theo Hamburger contacted me following an earlier conversation and asked for details of the logos and trademarks associated with the project.
I asked for a letter of intent.
On 25 February, Admiral’s Managing Director, Jonathan Hamburger, followed up concerning the LA Aztecs.
Admiral’s subsequent trademark registration claimed European priority from 27 February 2025.
Those dates are documented.
They do not, by themselves, prove wrongdoing.
The recent UKIPO hearing dealt with the likelihood of confusion between trademarks. It did not decide whether Admiral’s registration had been applied for in bad faith.
We are considering whether there is sufficient evidence to pursue a separate invalidity challenge under Section 3(6) of the Trade Marks Act 1994.
Such a challenge would have to establish the relevant legal grounds. No finding of bad faith has been made against Admiral, and the outcome of any further proceedings cannot be assumed.
I would prefer a reasonable commercial resolution.
Admiral has an established heritage sportswear business. We are developing a football and entertainment business.
I believe there should be room for both, provided our respective rights are respected.
What matters most to me is not spending the next five years arguing over a badge.
It is finally putting a team on the pitch.
Why I started this journey
When I began pursuing the revival in 2022, I kept coming back to one question.
How could a club with this much history simply disappear?
George Best wore the Aztecs shirt.
Johan Cruyff wore the Aztecs shirt.
Rinus Michels managed the Aztecs.
The club was part of an extraordinary period in American soccer, when football, music, celebrity and ambition came together in a way that had rarely been seen before.
It wasn’t always successful.
It wasn’t always sensible.
But it had imagination.
And that is something I believe American soccer needs again.
The original Aztecs were more than a football team. They belonged to a moment when people genuinely believed the game could become something enormous in North America.
I still believe it can.
But I am increasingly convinced that the next chapter needs a different business model.
Building football differently
Over the past few years, I have spoken with league executives, club owners, investors and people involved in stadium development.
The more I have learned about the economics of American professional soccer, the more I have questioned the system.
The franchise fees can be enormous.
The territory restrictions are complicated.
The stadium requirements can take years to satisfy.
And the operating losses can be considerable.
A football club should not have to spend millions simply to acquire permission to begin playing.
There has to be another way.
I want the Los Angeles Aztecs to be part of that alternative.
A club that combines football and entertainment.
A team that can establish a permanent home in Southern California while also travelling to play matches in other markets.
A business that understands the value of music, culture, personality and the live experience.
And potentially the foundation of a new North American soccer competition built around lower costs, centralised commercial operations and supporters rather than expensive expansion rights.
That is the direction I am exploring.
It is ambitious. There are significant questions still to answer about funding, venues, competition structure and operations.
We do not yet have a permanent stadium or a confirmed league.
But I believe the opportunity is worth pursuing.
And I believe the Aztecs are the right team to lead it.
The trademark battle has taught me something
When you start a project like this, you naturally think about the exciting parts.
The first match.
The stadium.
The players.
The supporters.
The shirt.
You don’t imagine spending years dealing with legal paperwork and trademark proceedings.
But protecting the identity has become part of the journey.
It has taught me patience.
It has also taught me that if you believe in something, you have to be prepared to defend it.
We began pursuing the modern Aztecs identity in the United States in 2022.
Now we are approaching what we expect to be an important American registration milestone.
In Britain, our application for football and commercial services can proceed towards registration.
And we retain a separately registered bird emblem covering clothing.
There are still unresolved legal questions.
But there is also real progress.
The next challenge is turning that progress into something supporters can experience.
The real victory will be on the pitch
I know some people will look at the UKIPO decision and say Admiral won.
On the clothing opposition, that is correct.
But I look at the bigger picture.
Nearly five years ago, we started with an idea.
Bring back the Los Angeles Aztecs.
Protect the identity.
Build the foundations.
Find a way to put a team on the pitch.
That idea has survived legal battles, setbacks and more than a few difficult moments.
We have not achieved the final ambition yet.
And I won’t pretend that a trademark registration is the same as having a football club playing every weekend.
But it is progress towards making that possible.
I want to see eleven players wearing the Aztecs bird.
I want supporters gathering before kick-off.
I want music playing, families coming through the gates and children discovering the history of George Best and Johan Cruyff.
More than anything, I want a new generation of Aztecs players to create their own history.
The greatest moment in this journey won’t come from an intellectual property office in London or Washington.
It will come when the whistle blows and the Los Angeles Aztecs take the field again.
Nearly five years of fighting for the name.
Our American trademark registration is expected to reach its final milestone.
Our football and commercial trademark application moves forward in Britain.
Our registered Aztecs bird remains protected.
The legal battles have been part of the story.
But they were never the reason we started.
The shirts matter. The badge matters. The name matters.
But the football matters more.
Football is for the fans.
Trademark references: UKIPO decision O/0973/26, dated 28 October 2026; LOS ANGELES AZTECS 1973 application UK00004206336; registered bird emblem UK00004328878; Admiral’s L.A. AZTECS word mark UK00004236940. Classes 35 and 41 remain subject to completion of registration procedures. The expected US trademark registration has not yet been confirmed. No finding of bad faith against Admiral was made in the UK opposition proceedings.