A-League club Melbourne Heart could be in for a name change, following its sale to a consortium led by English Premier League giants Manchester City.
An application to trademark the name Melbourne City Football Club was lodged by MHFC Holdings Pty Ltd on January 16 - just a week before the takeover was announced on Thursday. It is still awaiting approval.
Coincidently, the Heart's new minority shareholders and owners of NRL club the Melbourne Storm, Holding M.S. Australia Pty Ltd, have also registered the business name Melbourne City FC with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) and bought the domain name MelbourneCityFC.com.au.
Both were registered on July 10 last year, less than two months after the consortium purchased the Storm.
Neither Manchester City, the Heart Consortium Group or Melbourne Storm have indicated a name change is on the cards, only to say they will hold off from making any major announcements until mid-2014 - after the current season ends.
A Melbourne City franchise had been proposed by former vice-president of AFL club Carlton Colin DeLutis in 2008.
But his bid for a second A-League side in Melbourne was withdrawn soon after, with Heart awarded the licence in 2009.
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