Reacting to a bottle-snatching trend at the European Championship started by Cristiano Ronaldo, UEFA has asked players on the 24 teams to stop removing strategically placed sponsor drinks from the news conference platforms.
Ronaldo, Paul Pogba and Manuel Locatelli removed sponsor bottles away from the view of cameras when taking their seats at media briefings this week.
Euro 2020 tournament director Martin Kallen said on Thursday UEFA has “communicated with the teams regarding this matter”.
“It is important because the revenues of the sponsors are important for the tournament and for European football,” Kallen said in a briefing.
Pogba, who is Muslim and does not drink alcohol, objected to the distinctive green bottle of official Euro 2020 beer sponsor Heineken. The beer is marketed as non-alcoholic, with 0 percent alcohol.
Kallen said tournament rules require compliance with UEFA’s promises to sponsors, though players with religious objections “don’t need to have a bottle there”.
Pogba had to take questions in the interview room after being named the best player in France’s 1-0 win over Germany on Tuesday. The player awards are sponsored by the brewer.
Ronaldo started the trend on Monday at a mandatory pre-game news conference by hiding two Coca-Cola bottles and replacing them with a water bottle, which was also one of the drink maker’s brands.
A drop in Coca-Cola’s share price this week was attributed by some to Ronaldo’s snub, but without any evidence that the two things were connected.
Locatelli copied the Portugal great on Wednesday after helping Italy beat Switzerland.
It prompted UEFA to remind officials with the teams that players should respect the sponsors and the contributions they make to European football. Media managers at each of the 11 stadiums across Europe should also help with removing beer bottles before the arrival of a Muslim player.
Coca-Cola and Heineken are among 12 top-tier sponsors for Euro 2020 who contribute to UEFA’s total tournament revenue of almost 2 billion euros ($2.4bn).
The values of individual sponsor deals are not published, but UEFA got 483 million euros ($576m) in sponsor deals from 10 partners at Euro 2016 in France.
Players also indirectly get money from Euro 2020 commercial income via their national federations and clubs.