Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
Evening Standard
Evening Standard
Business
Graeme Evans

First Ronaldo, then Pogba: Euro 2020’ battle of sponsorship bottles

FRANCE superstar Paul Pogba has entered Euro 2020’s battle of the bottles - by removing a Heineken from the table in front of him at a post-match press conference.

Pogba, a practising Muslim, picked the official sponsor’s beer and placed it out-of-shot as he sat down to address reporters in Munich after being named man of the match in France's 1-0 ‘Group of Death’ opening victory over Germany.

Alcohol is considered ‘haram’ in Islamic faith, although the bottle the Man Utd midfielder plucked from view was apparently alcohol-free.

The snub came a day after Portugal captain Cristiano Ronaldo moved aside Coca-Cola bottles in a similar set-up in Budapest.

Ronaldo, sitting beside manager Fernando Santos ahead of his team's match against Hungary, irritably set aside two bottles of the soda, then picked up a bottle of water and appeared to encourage drinking that instead - saying "Água!"

The intervention coincided with shares in Coke falling on Wall Street, wiping $4billion off the value of its US parent company.

Coca-Cola's shares were trading around $56.17 when Wall Street opened on Monday, but fell sharply at one point wiping around $4bn from its $242 billion market cap in line with the Dow Jones.

A Euro 2020 spokesperson added: "Players are offered water, alongside Coca-Cola and Coca-Cola Zero Sugar, on arrival at our press conference."

It said “everyone is entitled to their drink preferences” and have differing “tastes and needs.”

Ronaldo follows a fitness routine that includes eating six meals and taking five naps a day and has told of his irritation of his son Cristiano Jr’s taste for Coke.

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.