Euro 2020 stars threatened with fines unless they STOP moving sponsors’ drinks after Cristiano Ronaldo’s Coca-Cola stunt
EURO 2020 stars have been told to STOP moving sponsors' drinks in press conferences - or risk their team getting fined.
Cristiano Ronaldo started the trend when he put a pair of Coca-Cola bottles out of the way on Monday.
He then told the cameras to 'drink water' instead of the popular fizzy drink.
But Uefa, aware of the negative impact the stunts have on big-money backers, want to put an end to any more instances.
Euro 2020 tournament director Martin Kallen revealed Uefa has 'communicated with the teams regarding this matter' and disciplinary action may be taken.
He said: "It is important because the revenues of the sponsors are important for the tournament and for European football.
"We are never fining players directly from the Uefa side, we will do this always through the participating national association and then they could look if they will go further to the player, but we are not going directly for the moment to the player."
Kallen added tournament rules require compliance with Uefa's promises to sponsors, though players with religious objections 'don't need to have a bottle there'.
Ronaldo's move whacked a staggering £2.84billion off Coca-Cola's market value.
Italy hero Manuel Locatelli followed in Ronaldo's footsteps on and off the pitch - with two goals and then getting rid of the Coke with water put in its place.
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Paul Pogba, a devout Muslim, also removed a bottle of Heineken 0.0 - the non-alcoholic version of their beer.
But Roberto Martinez, whose Belgium side are directly sponsored by Coca-Cola, insisted his team 'love' the soft drink after their win over Denmark.
Scottish hero John McGinn turned the saga into a bit of a joke when he came in to do pre-match press and cheekily asked why there was 'no Coke?'
Clearly not one to blindly follow trends, Russia coach Stanislav Cherchesov merrily drank the Coca-Cola supplied for his media duties.
Andriy Yarmolenko poked further fun by asking Coca-Cola and Heineken for sponsorship deals while England captain Harry Kane simply avoided the entire fiasco by ignoring the bottles.