Wayne Rooney strikes glory online

There’s only one name on the lips of England fans today and 18-year-old genius Wayne Rooney is fast becoming one of the most popular football players on the net too. England's Wayne Rooney, who scored twice against Croatia on Monday night, has already notched up an impressive ten registered domains bearing his name. Rooney is now just one domain name behind England’s former golden boy Michael Owen, and five ahead of Monday night’s fellow goal-scorer Frank Lampard, reports domain name specialists Netnames.com. “Rising football stars have the potential to become huge brands so they need to protect their online identities early on in their careers,” said Jonathan Robinson, business development director at Netnames. “By registering and retaining control of website addresses associated with his name, rising stars like Wayne Rooney can make sure that they do not fall into the hands of third-parties and potential domain name speculators," added Robinson. Manager Sven has four domain names dedicated to him, but the top sporting and cultural icon around the world is still David Beckham, with an incredible 111 domain names registered by fans around the world – an increase of 43 since the 2002 World Cup in Japan.