July 12 – It will hardly register amid the disappointment of semi-final elimination but the English FA has been fined CHF70,000 after three players – Dele Alli, Eric Dier and Raheem Sterling – wore unauthorised equipment at the World Cup.
The players wore branded ankle support socks over official Nike socks, ignoring a FIFA warning.
In a disciplinary update published on its website four ahead of England’s World Cup semi-final against Croatia, FIFA said it was taking the sanction for “breaching media and marketing regulations and the FIFA equipment regulations”.
“FIFA had previously requested the Football Association to cease the activity that led to the sanction. In particular, several members of the English national team continued to display unauthorised commercial branding on playing equipment items before and during the quarterfinal match between Sweden and England.”
This brings the total number of players to be sanctioned for wearing the sports socks during the game to four, with Sweden’s Andreas Granqvist already punished for the offence.
Under pressure from sponsors, FIFA has been quick to hand out sanctions where the rules have been breached including fining the Croatian FA earlier in the tournament when it promoted beer other than Budweiser.
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