Cristiano Ronaldo claimed another footballing record on Tuesday as he became the highest goal-scorer in the history of the European Championship, but that isn’t the only reason why he has been in the news this week.
The Portuguese superstar, who has always been known for his supreme level of fitness, made headlines for shifting aside two bottles of Coca-Cola during a press conference in Budepest before his team’s Euro 2020 Group F match against Hungary.
Ronaldo then raised a bottle of water that was kept on the table and said: “Agua!”, which means water in Portuguese and Spanish.
Now, according to a report by The Guardian, the Portugal captain’s gesture has lead to a $4 billion dip in the market value of Coca-Cola. The share price of the drinks company went from $56.10 to $55.22, while their market value dropped from $242bn to $238bn.
Ronaldo is widely regarded as one of the greatest footballers of all time and has a massive following on social media, with close to 300 million followers on Instagram.
While Coca-Cola, a carbonated soft drinks brand which is also one of the official sponsors of Euro 2020, stated that “everyone is entitled to their drink preferences” with different “tastes and needs”, a Euros spokesperson said: “Players are offered water, alongside Coca-Cola and Coca-Cola Zero Sugar, on arrival at our press conferences.”
Coca-Cola’s partnership with Uefa extends back to 1988, according to a report in ESPN.
Ronaldo stole the spotlight with his exploits on the football pitch on Tuesday in Portugal’s 3-0 win over Hungary. The 36-year-old scored a brace in the match to go past Michel Platini and become the leading goal-scorer at the European Championship finals with 11 goals to his name.
Update
According to a report by The Athletic UK, the Ronaldo incident can’t be blamed for Coca-Cola’s massive drop in market share as the dip happened before the footballer’s press conference began.
“Complete nonsense,” sports marketing expert Tim Crow, who spent 20 years as an advisor to Coca-Cola, was quoted as saying by The Athletic UK. “American investors are not driven by what happens in a press conference ahead of a European football match. It doesn’t work like that. Tonnes of stocks went down for several reasons but the two things are not related. There are a billion servings of Coke every day. I think they’ll be okay.”
Also read – Cristiano Ronaldo is a machine: Reactions to Portuguese superstar’s goal-scoring record at Euro 2020