Bayern Munich FC Players Fined for Wearing Wrong Gear
Three players from Bayern Munich football club have been fined for wearing sports gear that wasn’t in line with their sponsorship deal. Mario Gotze, Mario Gomez and Jan Kirchhoff were slapped with the fines after they wore Nike brand clothing, even though Bayern Munich FC is officially sponsored by Adidas. Under the sponsorship contract, all players are expected wear Adidas gear, except for football shoes.
Gotze, who joined Bayern from Borussia Dortmund, and Kirchhoff who joined from Mainz both wore Nike t-shirts when they turned up for their presentation, while Gomez attended a training camp wearing a Nike cap, even after the team had apologized to Adidas for the first two incidents.
A red faced Bayern issued a public apology to Adidas, with the team’s media director, Markus Horwick saying: “These T-shirts have gotten by us in the general hustle and bustle and we regret that very much. We have assured Adidas that this will not happen again.”
Adidas issued a statement shortly after Gomez was pictured at the training camp, saying: ‘The pictures from today’s press conference with Mario Gotze have negatively surprised us.”
“Contractually it is not permissible because it is an official function of Adidas partner Bayern Munich,” continued the statement. “We have already discussed with Bayern Munich.”
The players, who were reportedly fined EUR 10,000 each, have donated the money to victims of the recent floods in Germany, the worse the country has seen in over 400 years, and which have so far caused $20 billion worth of damage.
Bayern Munich celebrated a phenomenal last season, becoming the first German club to win the Champions League, Bundesliga and the DFB Pokal. The team smashed multiple records in Bundesliga to claim the title back from their rivals Dortmund.