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Football

18th Mar 2019

Why UEFA have charged Bayern Munich over Leon Goretzka’s shirt

Wayne Farry

leon goretzka

Goretzka was seen wearing the wrong shirt during the Champions League match

UEFA opened an investigation into Bayern Munich’s Leon Goretzka this week, after the midfielder was pictured wearing a Bundesliga shirt during his side’s 3-1 Champions League defeat to Liverpool last Wednesday.

The Bundesliga side have been charged by European football’s governing body for the mistake, which broke UEFA’s rules on sponsorship on shirt’s during European matches.

The reason it broke those rules is because, unlike their Champions League shirt, Bayern’s Bundesliga shirt features both their T-Mobile sponsor on the front and the Qatar Airways logo on the left sleeve.

Generally, UEFA Champions League shirts have the competition logo on one side, and the logo for their ‘Respect campaign’ on the other sleeve where a sponsor logo would be during domestic games.

Article 28 of the UEFA kit regulations allows for only one sponsor during Champions League games. The sponsor must be positioned on the front of the shirt without exceeding the 200cm x 200cm measurement limits.

Goretzka entered the match in the 72nd minute, replacing Javi Martinez, and it appears no member of Bayern staff were aware of the fact that he was wearing the wrong shirt at the time.