Reacting to a bottle-snatching trend at the European Championship started by Cristiano Ronaldo, players on the 24 teams have been asked to stop removing strategically placed sponsor drinks from the news conference platforms, UEFA said Thursday.

Ronaldo, Paul Pogba and Manuel Locatelli all removed sponsor bottles away from the view of cameras when taking their seats at official media sessions last week.

Euro 2020 tournament director Martin Kallen said 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.

Ronaldo started the trend last 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.

Locatelli copied the Portugal great 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 soccer.

While UEFA will not impose fines on individual players, Kallen said it was “always a possibility” that national federations get a financial penalty for further incidents.

The issue is a source of comedy for other teams.

Scotland midfielder John McGinn quipped “No Coke?” because there were no bottles in the squad’s training base interview room, and Belgium coach Roberto Martinez said after a 2-1 victory over Denmark on Thursday that his team loves the drink.

Coca-Cola is an official sponsor of the Belgian soccer federation.

All 24 teams will get some of the money paid by Coca-Cola, Heineken and 10 other top-tier sponsors that contribute to UEFA’s total tournament revenue of almost 2 billion euros (US$2.36b).

The values of individual sponsor deals are not published, but UEFA got 483 million euros 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.

Words to Learn 相关词汇

【赞助商】 zànzhùshāng sponsor a person, firm, organization, etc., that finances and buys the time to broadcast a radio or television program so as to advertise a product, a political party, etc.

【顶级】 dǐngjí top-tier the most important people in a group, companies in an industry, etc.

对于C罗在欧洲杯掀起的挪瓶子风潮，欧足联上周四表示，已要求24个参赛球队的队员不能再移走新闻发布会平台上特意放置的赞助商饮料。

上周，C罗、保罗•博格巴和曼努埃尔•洛卡特利在官方新闻发布会上落座时均把赞助商饮料挪到镜头之外。

2020欧洲杯赛事总监马丁•凯伦称，欧足联已经“就此事和参赛球队沟通过”。

凯伦在记者会上说：“这很重要，因为赞助商的投入对于欧洲杯和欧洲足球都是非常重要的。”

上周一，C罗在例行的赛前新闻发布会上将两瓶可口可乐挪走，并拿来一瓶水代替。这瓶水也是可口可乐旗下产品。

上周三，洛卡特利在帮助意大利队击败瑞士队后，也效仿了C罗的举动。

这促使欧足联向各参赛球队的官员发出警告，指出球员应该尊重赞助商以及他们对欧洲足球做出的贡献。

尽管欧足联不会对球员个人处以罚款，但是凯伦称，如果接下来还有类似事件发生，欧足联“不排除”对各国足协罚款的可能性。

挪饮料事件成了其他球队的欢乐源泉。

苏格兰中场球员约翰•麦金在训练地的采访室看不见饮料时俏皮地说道：“没有可乐吗？”比利时队教练罗伯托•马丁内斯本周四在比利时队以2比1打败丹麦队后表示，他的球队很喜欢喝可乐。

可口可乐是比利时足球协会的官方赞助商。

参加欧洲杯的全部24个球队将会由可口可乐、喜力和其他10家顶级赞助商支付一部分奖金，而这些赞助商也是欧足联近20亿欧元（约合23.6亿美元）欧洲杯总收入的来源。

个体赞助商的合同价值没有公开，但是在2016法国欧洲杯上欧足联从10个赞助商那里得到了4.83亿欧元的赞助收入。

球员们也能通过本国足协和俱乐部间接地从2020欧洲杯的商业收入中分一杯羹。

(chinadaily.com.cn)