From Cristiano Ronaldo to Manuel Locatelli.. a lot of water.. a few soft drinks
Lots of water, few soft drinks. This was the silent message that more than one player began to send in calling for a healthy lifestyle, a campaign that was recently joined by the young Italian midfielder, Manuel Locatelli, and started by the star of the Portuguese national team and Juventus, Cristiano Ronaldo, after he removed bottles of soft drinks from his table. After his country's match against Hungary in the first round of Group F of the European Nations Cup (Euro 2020).
The incident has sparked different reactions and interpretations since the Portuguese star did it, and reports indicated that it may have different consequences on the social, economic and legal levels as well. Especially that players do not prefer to appear alongside certain brands, but it does not depend only on them, but also on the many obligations that they have to do in promotional contracts signed by teams, teams and tournaments with the most important companies in the world in order to appear as expected in important sports forums.
The lawyer, Angelo Casilla, explained to Efe the matter further, saying, “The game includes sponsors, the European Football Association (UEFA) and the local federations, and the matter depends entirely on what is stipulated in the contract signed between the advertisers and UEFA, which may also affect the participating teams.”
"I do not expect the affected companies to file cases against the players, especially since they are among the most prominent in the world, but I may not be surprised if any of them file a complaint (to UEFA), because of the economic importance of the euro (for advertisers and sponsors)," he added.
And it began in the press conference after the Portugal-Hungary match, which was attended by Cristiano Ronaldo, after his remarkable brilliance and two goals during the match, to replace two Coca-Cola bottles with water.
It became apparent to everyone that Ronaldo did not want to appear next to bottles of soft drinks, which negatively affected one of the most famous soft drink companies at all, as its shares were affected quickly, and fell by 1.6 percent, according to economists.
The next day, French midfielder Paul Pogba joined the "silent campaign", after he attended the press conference after his country's match against Germany, in which the "roosters" won with a clean goal, during which the player presented distinguished levels, and was one of the reasons why the French won points. The three.
And seconds after sitting on his seat in front of the reporters, the Manchester United star removed a bottle of beer belonging to one of the most famous alcoholic beverage companies, because he did not want his image to be associated with promoting this type of drink, which caused the controversy that ignited Ronaldo and fueled his fire with Pogba, before he It continues with Manuel Locatelli joining the list, who removed soda bottles from his table ahead of the Italy-Switzerland press conference.
These actions opened the door to many questions, chief among them is whether these stars have the right to show products at the expense of others, despite the huge money paid by companies producing these goods in order to promote them in major forums, or do they have to abide by the stipulations of the contracts signed with UEFA, to avoid entering into legal or economic crises.
The players are promoting in their own way the importance of adopting a healthy lifestyle through the European Nations Cup (Euro 2020), but the coming days will reveal whether this will continue or whether the affected companies will intervene in order to stop such behavior, which turned their ads from a blessing to a curse in one of the most important International sports forums.
Spanish news agency EFE
