Sweden was sent packing by England after a 2-0 defeat in the quarterfinals of the World Cup. The Swedes showed the world that they were there to really have a go at the tournament, making it out of a group that barely anyone gave them a chance in.
However, while Sweden’s players will no doubt be proud of their achievement, there was one little bit of negativity that arose from it — a piece of negativity to the tune of $66,000. More specifically, Andreas Granqvist’s socks are going to cost him $66,000. Clear enough for you?
Sweden defender Andreas Granqvist receives £50,000 fine from FIFA because some black dots on his socks visible, which is giving the trusox company free exposure.
— Mootaz Chehade (@MHChehade) July 8, 2018
Granqvist, among many other soccer players, enjoys a pair of Trusox. If you aren’t one of the cool kids and in the know about the latest trend in soccer socks, you'll likely still have seen a pair of Trusox on players.
They have multiple little dots on the back of them and are almost instantly recognisable to your average soccer fan that cares about gear, especially socks.
We appear to have been trending....https://t.co/IaeYRbG78c#TRUsox #playerschoice #getagrip pic.twitter.com/k7FU3U60c2
— TRUsox® (@TRUsox) July 9, 2018
Trusox are made in England, so it's a little ironic that Granqvist is being fined for wearing socks made by the country he was playing against.
But it's not as simple as that. FIFA is not too pleased with the free exposure that Trusox was getting during the World Cup, especially because other companies pay for advertising.
Andreas Granqvist gets fined £50,000 for wearing @TRUsox ,which breaches rules on sponsorships.
The Russian FA were fined £22,000 for racist chantingEasy to see where @FIFAcom priorities lie
— i@n pe@rce (@erniesmilkfloat) July 7, 2018
FIFA fined Granqvist for wearing them in the first few games of Sweden’s World Cup campaign, and he was warned again before the defeat to England.
Instead, Granqvist didn’t really care and wore them anyway, although he did make a conscious decision to at least try and cover up a bit of the trademark black dots on the Trusox sock.
For Granqvist, it was a triple whammy. Being fined over something simple like a pair of socks, losing to England in the World Cup and also missing the birth of his daughter. Poor dude can't catch a break.
If you ask me, I'm glad that FIFA is finally clamping down on socks. It's such a big issue, much bigger than Neymar's diving antics, the shambles that will be the 2022 World Cup in Qatar or anything else. FIFA has no other pressing needs in the world of soccer besides purging players who wear Trusox, espeically Granqvist, despite so many other players wearing them this tournament.
@FIFAWorldCup @FIFAcom @fifamedia Nice way of getting @TRUsox some exposure though, from you guys. Here's a pic of Mile Jedinak doing the same thing during the WC by the way #FifaWorldCup2018 pic.twitter.com/QzcsAuobzG
— Thomas Stensland (@WesBrown6) July 9, 2018
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