Courtesy: Times Now News
On Monday, at a Euro 2020 press conference, the Portugal captain removed two bottles of Coca-Cola kept in front of him encouraging people to drink water instead. As he sat down to speak to the media before Tuesday’s Group F opener against Hungary, the 36-year-old moved the cola bottles aside.
The Juventus forward followed it by holding a bottle of water before shouting: “Agua!, Agua!” (water) in Portuguese, indicating what appeared to be him encouraging people to drink water instead of aerated drinks. The video of the incident went viral on social media and was widely shared.
Coca-Cola is one of the official sponsors of Euro 2020, hence bottles were placed in front of the cameras in the press conferences for marketing. The company replied with a statement on Tuesday that said: “everyone is entitled to their drink preferences with different tastes and needs”.
France midfielder Paul Pogba according to reports removed a bottle of Heineken beer that had been placed in front of him at a Euro 2020 news conference on Tuesday. This echoed a similar incident involving Portugal captain, Cristiano Ronaldo, when he moved aside Coca-Cola bottles in a similar set-up.
“UEFA has reminded participating teams that partnerships are integral to the delivery of the tournament and to ensuring the development of football across Europe, including for youth and women,” tournament organizers said on Thursday.
UEFA’s Euro 2020 tournament director Martin Kallen said players were contractually obliged “through their federation of the tournament regulations to follow”.
However, he said he understood the actions of players like Pogba, who did such things for religious reasons.
UEFA has reminded teams of their contractual obligations and said that ‘disciplinary action’ could be taken against teams.