Opinion

After latest report claims that soft drink and beverages manufacturer lost a staggering $4b to the "Drink Water" drama of five-time Balloon d'Or winner and all-time top scorer of Euros, Cristiano Ronaldo, the sporting and business world are critically x-raying the incident...as many believe there could be more to it.

 

CR7 shoved aside two bottles of Coca-Cola on the table while he was attending a press conference at Euro 2020 to say "Drink water."

 

This action has raised huge dusts given that the soft drink cum beverages manufacturer is the sponsor of Euro 2020.

 

Many see CR7 action as mere involuntary one and perhaps he wanted to "preach gospel of health" or living healthy. But why choose that stage to do so, knowing that Coca-Cola is the proud sponsor of the same tournament?

 

This question has continued to baffle all including the organisers of the tournament who are not finding CR7's action funny in any form.

 

Critics say, CR7 may have used that avenue to hit at Coca-Cola and probably made a statement suggesting, why haven't you picked me for an endorsement deal despite my heroics in football?

 

Has Coca-Cola sponsored or being sponsoring athletes? The answer is a simple YES!!! So why not CR7? Investigations by this writer shows that arguably Wayne Rooney is the only footballer on Coca-Cola endorsement deal? So it could be further argued that Coca-Cola is not totally given to endorsing every footballer irrespective of how famous he or she is. Perhaps there are other salient reasons for picking their athletes cum footballers for endorsement.

 

So, was CR7 correct to have reacted or acted the way he did to attract attention from Coca-Cola?

 

Needless saying that athletes make huge money from endorsement deals of products and services. So reactions or action like CR7's cannot go unnoticed.

Desmond Ekwueme, a journalist, sports analyst of international repute is based in Lagos.