Euro: UEFA agrees to remove beer bottles in front of Muslim players

Published on : 06/25/2021 – 6:42 PM

Not all sponsors are welcome at the players table. UEFA now agrees to remove bottles of beer placed on the desks of Muslim footballers during Euro press conferences, if they so request. The body made the announcement Friday, June 25 after the much commented gesture of Paul Pogba.

“We ask Muslim players if they agree to have them or not”, told Agence France-Presse a spokesperson for UEFA, recalling that they are “non-alcoholic beers “and confirming information from the Daily Telegraph.

The bottles of the brewer Heineken, sponsor of the competition, were until now systematically displayed in front of the players. The brand “agrees with this approach,” said the same source.

Last week, after the France-Germany match (1-0), the French world champion Paul Pogba had removed a beer from his desk before speaking to the press, thus raising a marketing storm in the middle of the Euro.

His gesture had been all the more noticed as the day before, the fivefold Ballon d’Or Cristiano Ronaldo had retracted two bottles of Coca-Cola placed in front of him by the organizers, asking for water instead of the famous soda of the American firm. .

UEFA had immediately clarified that the players did not risk fines, while reminding the 24 federations participating in the Euro the importance of sponsors “for the tournament and European football”.

With AFP