UEFA reminds teams of sponsorship duties after Ronaldo Coca-Cola case

European football’s governing body UEFA has replied to Portugal forward Cristiano Ronaldo’s exclusion of a Coca-Cola bottle at a Euro 2020 news session by telling teams they have contractual duties towards tournament sponsors.

“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,” stated the tournament organizers.

UEFA’s Euro 2020 tournament director Martin Kallen said the main problem had been with Ronaldo’s act, whereas there was an understanding of players who did such things for religious reasons.

“If it is for religious reasons, they don’t need to have a bottle there,” said Kallen.

He told reporters the predetermined responsibilities regarding sponsors were part of the tournament guidelines signed up by the national federations.

UEFA has not taken any penalizing act over the events and Kallen said any agreements would be a matter for federations. UEFA would not directly fine players, he added.

“We are never fining a player directly from the UEFA side, we do this always through the participating national association and they can look if they go further,” said Kallen.

“We have regulations signed by the participating federations. We have reminded them of their obligations but of course, this (fining) is always a possibility,” he said.

Previously Ronaldo moved Coca-Cola bottles aside as he sat down to speak to the media on Tuesday’s Group F opener against Hungary in Budapest, which Portugal won 3-0.

The 36-year-old then held up a bottle of water and said “Agua” in Portuguese, making headlines.

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A day later, France midfielder Paul Pogba, who is a Muslim player, distant a Heineken beer bottle in front of him after France’s 1-0 victory over Germany.

Italy midfielder Manuel Locatelli also set aside Coca-Cola bottles and replaced them with a water bottle before speaking to the press after his Man of the Match display in a 3-0 win against Switzerland on Wednesday.