Euro’s Tournament Headaches as Stars Snub Big Brands
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ootball stars Cristiano Ronaldo and Paul Pogba have snubbed two key sponsors of the Euros tournament removing bottles of Coca-Cola and Heineken at press conferences.
Speaking at a Euros press conference before Portugal’s game against Hungary on Tuesday, Ronaldo moved the Coca-Cola, official sponsor of the tournament, out of site and declared “agua” before placing a bottle of water in front of him.
The move by the Portuguese football star is said to have caused a 1.6% drop in the soft drink company’s share price equating to an AUD$5.2 billion loss in market value.
The Athletic report that this move caused Coca-Cola share prices to drop from US$56.1 (AUD$73.65) to US$55.2(AUD$72.46).
The soft drink giant responded to Ronaldo’s apparent disapproval of the product stating: “everyone is entitled to their drink preferences” and everyone has “different tastes and needs.”
A spokesperson for the tournament added “players are offered water alongside Coca-Cola and Coca-Cola Zero Sugar, on arrival at our press conferences.”
Despite many news outlets reporting it was Ronaldo’s actions that caused Coca-Cola’s share price to drop, there is evidence to suggest that the football star may not have had as big an impact as first thought.
According to Sportico, the trading charts indicate that Coca-Cola shares were already down 0.9% in the trading period 15 minutes before the beginning of Ronaldo’s press conference.
“Coke closes Friday’s trading at $55.74 (AUD$73.2) and opened Monday lower.”
“By 9:44am (3:44pm Central European Time and one minute before the beginning of the press conference), Coke shares had fallen to $54.25(AUD$71.24), a loss of $2.1 billion(AUD$1.6 billion) off its market cap already- before Ronaldo even spied the sugary drink.”
Sportico suggest the fact that “stock quotes are typically transmitted on a 20-minute delay to mainstream news sites” as a reason many sites made such a strong correlation between Ronaldo’s stunt and the price drop.
Soon after Ronaldo snubbed Coca-Cola, French star Paul Pogba followed suit removing a bottle of Heineken from the press conference table.
It is speculated that Pogba removed the beverage due to his Islamic faith in which it is forbidden to drink alcohol.
Pogba was named Heineken’s Star of the Match for his role in France’s win over Germany, an award sponsored by the brewing giant who is promoting their new non-alcoholic larger.
Heineken is the official beer of the Euros tournament after signing a contract extension in 2019 with European footballs governing body, Union of European Football Association (UEFA).
It is unclear if Pogba’s actions have had any effect on Heineken’s share prices, and they are yet to make a statement.
