BRAZILIAN
footie ace Ronaldinho has been axed from his sponsorship deal with Coca Cola -
after he swigged from a can of Pepsi during a press conference.
The buck-toothed star will lose
£1,000,000 in unpaid earnings after he was spotted with the rival firm's drink
as he spoke to journalists at his new club, Atletico Mineiro.
The star's £500,000-a-year contract
with the drinks giant had been scheduled to run until 2014.
Marcelo
Pontes,
marketing chief for Coca-Cola, branded the sponsorship deal “embarrassing”.
He told a Brazilian paper: “The
fact that the player has appeared with a can of Pepsi was the straw that broke
the camel’s back”. The mistake is the latest in a line of blunders by
the two-time FIFA World Player Of The Year, who quit former club Flamengo
earlier this year in a legal dispute.
As well as below-par performances on
the pitch, the star has been dogged by allegations of unprofessional conduct,
reportedly appearing at parties and nightclubs.
But as Atletico Mineiro is sponsored
by Pepsi, his latest gaffe may not be entirely the former Barcelona man's
fault. It is thought likely that cans of the drink are usually present during
press conferences.
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