Mubasher: The European Union (EU) slapped Nike with a fine of EUR 12.5 million ($14.129 million) on Monday for banning traders from cross-border sales of football merchandise of European clubs, Thomson Reuters reported.

The EU case focused on the US sportswear maker’s role as a licensor for manufacturing and distributing licensed merchandise featuring a football club’s brands not its own trademarks.

Between 2004 and 2017, “Nike prevented many of its licensees from selling these branded products in a different country leading to less choice and higher prices for consumers,” European Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said.

Such practices deprived football fans in other countries from buying products such as mugs, bags, toys and stationery bearing their clubs’ brands, Vestager added.

Nike’s illegal actions related to licensed merchandise for Barcelona, AS Roma, Juventus and Manchester United.

The decided fine followed a two-year probe initiated by a sector inquiry into e-commerce in the EU.